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A Brief History of the

BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

AND ITS AGENCIES

FOR THE WORD OF GOD AND FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST

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Compiled by
MARGARET G. HARDEN

Dr. Carl Mclntire, Moderator of the 29th General Synod

DEDICATION

This book was prepared at the request of the Rev. Carl Mclntire, D.D,
Litt.D., F.R.G.S., moderator of the 29th General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church. Dr. Mclntire has been thrice honored with the moder-
atorship of the Church he helped to found— in 1946, 1956, and 1965.

Dr. Mclntire was first ordained to the Christian ministry by the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (now the United Presbyterian Church)
in 1931. After serving as pastor of the Chelsea Presbyterian Church, Atlantic
City, N. J., for two years, he was called to the Collingswood Presbyterian
Church, succeeding the Rev. Harold S. Laird, D.D.

In 1933, the Woman's Missionary Society of this church protested the
use of a modernistic mission study book to the Board of Foreign Missions
of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.

In 1934, Dr. Mclntire became a member of the Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions and has continued as such to this day. In
1935-36, he was tried by West Jersey Presbytery, New Jersey Synod, and
the General Assembly, and was closely linked with the champion of the
faith. Dr. J. Gresham Machen. They, with seven others, were suspended
from the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. Immediately a true
testimony was begun by 33 ministers. In 1936, Dr. Mclntire started by faith
the rehgious paper, the Christian Beacon, whose circulation now goes to
87 foreign countries, every state in the U.S.A., and every province of
Canada.

Since these historic days. Dr. Mclntire has had an active part in help-
ing to found and continue almost every one of the independent agencies
endorsed by the Synod. As president of the International Council of Chris-
tian Churches and as editor of the Christian Beacon, Dr. Mclntire has
carried the testimony "for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus
Christ" into every part of the world. He has circled the globe eleven times
and made numerous other trips to carry out faitlifuUy his ministerial vows to
protect the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible Presbyterian Church exists today, in large measure, because
of the faith and vision and tireless activity of this one of its ministers, Carl
Mclntire, pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood, N. J.

A BRIEF HISTORY

OF THE BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

AND ITS AGENCIES

Maintaining the True Spiritual Succession of American Presbyterianism
In Doctrine and Life, in Worship and Government

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 7

A Confessional Church 10

"For Generations a Faithful Witness" 12

THE STRUGGLE WITHIN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U.S.A 14

The Auburn Affirmation 16

The Reorganization of Princeton Theological Seminary 18

Westminster Theological Seminary 22

t^odernism and the Board of Foreign Missions 23

The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions 26

The Mandate of 1934 27

1935 — Year of Trials 31

Modernism in Other Boards of the Church 39

Faith Theological Seminary 44

THE EVER-DEEPENING APOSTASY IN "THE OLD CHURCH" 46

THE SYNODS OF THE BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 60

Why Increase of Synod-controlled Boards and Agencies Is Undesirable 94

Christian Freedom 94

Synod Confronts United Presbyterian Assembly in Columbus, Ohio . . 118
Women's Synodical Society 1 24

TIME LINE 126

INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROVED BY THE BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN

CHURCH 128

The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions 129

The Independent Board for Presbyterian Home Missions 131

Friends of Israel Testimony to Christ, Inc 132

Faith Theological Seminary 133

Highland College 135

Shelton College 138

Reformation Bible Institute 140

20th Century Overcomers 140

Bible Presbyterian Home — "Evening Rest" 142

Bible Presbyterian Guest Home 143

Christian Beacon and 20th Century Reformation Hour 144

Reformation Gospel Press 145

Christian Beacon Press, Inc 146

American Council of Christian Churches 146

International Council of Christian Churches 148

International Christian Youth 149

International Christian Relief 150

International Association of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches ....151

Christian Admiral Bible Conference and Freedom Center 153

Memorials 1 54

Bibliography 156

Navajo Bible School and Mission 157

THE CHURCH

The church is "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). The
church is not the truth; there is no truth in the church as such. The church
is not the hght; there is no hght in the church. Paul e.xphiined to young
Timothy what he meant by the church. He used the figure of a cokimn and
a foundation, and on that cokimn there was to rest the truth. The one
message and mission of the church is to hold before men the Word of God,
the Bible, nothing more, nothing less— the whole counsel of God.

The Bible is to be our guide, not the church, but a church true to the
Bible may be a help to us.

In a beautiful park in central New Jersey, U.S.A., in memory of Thomas
A. Edison, who gave to the world the incandescent light bulb, there has
been erected a large column, rising from a wide base on the very top of
which is an immense electric hght bulb. This bulb is lighted. At night it
can be seen from a great distance. The purpose of that column and founda-
tion is to hold high that light bulb that men may see the light and see by
the light. The purpose of the church is to hold high the Scriptures that men
may see the light that God has revealed there and see by the light. Even
the church itself, its nature, its structure, is revealed in that Book; and God
has outlined there the nature and pattern of the very column that He de-
sires to use to hold up the light.

—From Modern Tower of Babel, p. 83.

The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the
Holy Ghost, bom of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose
again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven; and sitteth on the right
hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the
quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the communion
of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life
everlasting. Amen.

HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND

The Bible Presbyterian Church was constituted
as a branch of the true Church of Jesus Christ,
September 6, 1938, in the new tabernacle building
of the Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood,
New Jersey, and declared its firm intention to
maintain "until our Lord appears in glory" the true
spiritual succession and witness of the Presby-
terian Church in the U.S.A., which body the Bible
Presbyterian Synod believed to have abandoned
its true and lawful spiritual succession as a church
of the Protestant Reformation. It was the universal
conviction of those original commissioners that
the Presbvterian Church in the U.S.A. had
apostatized from the faith to such a degree that
no longer were the historic requirements for
evidence which identify a branch of the true
Church being practiced in that body.

This "true and lawful spiritual succession" was
interpreted as including faitMulness in doctrine
and life, in government and worship, to the
Standards of American Presbyterianism.

The Reasons for the Existence of the
Bible Presbyterian Church

This purpose and the historic events which
preceded it were traced in the first resolution
passed by the Bible Presbyterian Synod as
follows:

Whereas, as believing Christians God has
commanded us to preserve a constant and
clear witness to His truth and to proclaim it
free from all surrender to, or compromise
with, unbelief in any form; and

Whereas, the body known as the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America,
which for generations maintained a true
witness to the revelation given by God in His
Word, has now become dominated by that
form of unbelief commonly known as "mod-
ernism," so that believers are unequally yoked
together with unbelievers (contrary to God's
command and to the peril of souls), and
so that those who deny the necessity of
doctrines which lie at the heart of the faith
of the Church Universal are honored by being
placed increasingly in positions of honor and
power, while those who love the historic
Christian faith have become an impotent
remnant within it; and

Whereas, the General Assembly of that body
has, by solemn and final judicial action, re-
quired submission of men's consciences to its
own orders, and has in so doing denied that
right of appeal to the Word of God which is
the inalienable refuge and defense of all true
Protestants, thus placing obedience to its own
command above and contrary to that of
obedience to God's Word as a condition and
test of remaining within its communion; and

Whereas, such action is a sinful usurpation
of the Crown and Covenant rights of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the only true Head and
King of the Church, setting the servant above
his Lord, and is an attempt to bring into in-
tolerable bondage the souls of those who hold
dearer than life itself the precious doctrine
that "God alone is lord of the conscience" as
the essence of spiritual freedom; and

Whereas, we view with inexpressible sorrow
this action of a once-faithful Church as
nothing less than official and judicially con-
firmed apostasy from the great Scriptural
principle of the Reformation that the Bible
and the Bible alone is the supreme and only
infallible rule of faith and practice, from
which high doctrine the whole doctrinal fab-
ric of our faith derives its authorit\';

Therefore be it resolved, that this General
Svnod, conscious of human frailty and weak-
ness, but in humble dependence upon God
alone, declares its firm intention to maintain
until our Lord appears in glory the spiritual
succession and witness which has been so
tragically abandoned. To that end we ear-
nestly pray the great Head of the Church to
give grace and strength for this task which is
inescapabh' laid upon us bv simple lo\altv,
and by love for Him.

And be it further resolved, that we invite all
Christians who find themselves unequally
yoked together with unbelievers to join with
us in testimony to the Gospel.

Founded Upon the Word of God

True Presbyterians have always believed that
the Bible is God's holy Word. Bible Presbyterians
believe the Bible to be the Word of God upon
the authoritv of God Himself.

When the Bible Presbyterian Church was
formed, the word "Bible" was placed in front of
the name "Presbyterian" because the great funda-
mentalist-modernist controversy which brought
the church into existence had centered around
the Bible. The name, therefore, "Bible Presbyte-
rian," has taken on a definite connotation in
America. It is both loved and hated; honored and
scorned. It is a good name. Bible Presbvterians
Hke it, thank God for it, and praise God for the
history which He has given to it.

Without the Bible, true and holy and in-
fallible, there is no basis for Protestantism and no
basis for Christianity. Chapter I of the great
Westminster Confession of Faith is devoted to
this testimonv.

True Presbyterian churches, by their con-
stitutions, are officially committed to holding the
Bible to be "the only infallible rule of faith and
practice," utterly supreme over the word of man.
This is true in faith and practice, in doctrine and
administration.

The
CONFESSION OF FAITH

of the

ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES

at Westminster

CHAPTER I.

OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE.

I. Although the Hght of nature, and the works of
creation and providence, do so far manifest the good-
ness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men in-
excusable; yet they are not sufficient to give that
knowledge of God and of his will, which is necessary
unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sun-
dry times, and in di\'ers manners, to reveal himself,
and to declare that his will unto his Church; and
afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating
of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and
comfort of the Church against the corruption of
the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to
commit the same wholly unto writing: which maketh
the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former
ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being
now ceased.

II. Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word
of God written, are now contained all the books of
the Old and New Testaments, which are these:

OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

Genesis.

II. Chronicles.

Daniel.

Exodus.

Ezra.

Hosea.

Leviticus.

Nehemiah.

Joel.

Numbers.

Esther.

Amos.

Deuteronomy.

Joshua.

Judges.

Job.

Psalms.

Proverbs.

Obadiah.

Jonah.

Micah.

Ruth.

Ecclesiastes.

Nahum.

I. Samuel.

The Song of Songs.

Habakkuk.

II. Samuel.

I. Kings.

II. Kings.

Isaiah.

Jeremiah.

Lamentations.

Zephaniah

Haggai.

Zechariah.

I. Chronicles.

Ezekiel.

Malachi.

OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Gospels according to

I. Thessalonians.

Matthew.

II. Thessaloni;

ans.

Mark.

Luke.

John.
The Acts of the
Paul's Epistles:

Apostles.

I. Timothy.

II. Timothy.
Titus.
Philemon.

The Epistle to tl

le Hebrews.

Romans.

I. Corinthians.

The Epi.stle of James.
The first and second

II. Corinthians

Epistles of Peter.

Galatians.

The first, second, and

Ephesians.

Philippians.

Colossians.

third Epistles of John.
The Epistle of Jude.
The Revelation.

Westminster Abbey

All which are given by inspiration of God, to be
the rule of faith and life.

III. The books commonly called Apocrypha, not
being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of
the Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the
Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or
made use of, than other human writings.

IV. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which
it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not
upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly
upon God, (who is truth itself,) the author thereof;
and therefore it is to be received, because it is the
Word of God.

V. We may be moved and induced by the testi-
mony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of
the Holy Scripture; and the heavenliness of the matter,
the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style,
the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole,
( which is to give all glory to God, ) the full discovery
it makes of the only way of man's salvation, the many
other incomparable excellencies, and the entire per-
fection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abun-
dantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet, not-
withstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the
infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from

the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by
and with the Word in our hearts.

VI. The whole counsel of God, concerning all
things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation,
faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scrip-
ture, or by good and necessary consequence may be
deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any
time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the
Spirit or traditions of men. Nevertheless we acknowl-
edge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to
be necessary for the saving understanding of such
things as are revealed in the Word; and there are some
circumstances concerning the worship of God and
government of the Church, common to human actions
and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of
nature and Christian prudence, according to the
general rules of the Word, which are always to be
observed.

VII. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in
themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things
which are necessary to be known, believed, and ob-
served, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and
opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not
only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of
the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient
understanding of them.

VIII. The Old Testament in Hebrew, (which was
the native language of the people of God of old, ) and
the New Testament in Greek, (which at the time of
the writing of it was most generally known to the
nations,) being immediately inspired by God, and by
his singular care and providence kept pure in all ages,
are therefore authentical; so as in all controversies of
religion the Church is finally to appeal unto them. But
because these original tongues are not known to all
the people of God who have right unto and interest
in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of
God, to read and search them, therefore they are to
be translated into the vulgar language of every nation
unto which they come, that the Word of God dwelling
plentifully in all they may worship him in an accept-
able manner, and, through patience and comfort of the
Scriptures, may have hope.

IX. The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture
is the Scripture itself; and therefore, when there is a
question about the true and full sense of any Scripture,
(which is not manifold, but one,) it may be searched
and known by other places that speak more clearly.

X. The Supreme Judge, by whom all controversies
of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of
councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of
men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in
whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but
the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.

A Confessional Church

The Bible Presbyterian Church is a confes-
sional church, standing without apology and
reservation for the historic Christian faith and for
that great body of doctrine on which the Presby-
terian Church in the U.S.A. stood consistently
from its inception in colonial times until the
destruction of the witness in 1936 by judicial de-
cision. The Bible Presbyterian Church is prom-
inently and pronouncedly a doctrinal church, and
finds that doctrine most purely and adequately
expressed in the great Confession of Faith issued
by the Westminster Assembly of 1647.

The Westminster Confession of Faith was
born out of loyalty to the Bible. It is not the sole
possession of anv one church group but it has been
since its birth the operating standard of the historic
Presbyterian Church. From olden days the
Presbyterian Church recognized the Confession
to be a faithful summary of the great doctrines of
the Bible.

Presbyterian doctrinal standards include the
Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Larger
and Shorter Catechisms. These are three state-
ments, varying in form, fullness, and purpose, of
the same creed. They are known as the West-
minster standards because the famous Assembly
of divines that framed them held their sessions
in England's great Abbey of Westminster. "The
Westminster Assembly was a representative body,
called by the English Parliament, made up of one
hundred and twenty-one divines, eleven lords,
twent\' commoners, from all the counties of
England and the Universities of Oxford and Cam-
bridge with seven Commissioners from Scotland.
Many of them jeopardized their livings by
accepting the Parliament's appointment, and after
the Restoration cheerfully sacrificed their earthly
all for conscience' sake" (Smith, E. W., The Creed
of Presbyterians, The Westminster Press, 1902, p.
16). The Assembly was a select assembly com-
posed of scholars, theologians, orators, statesmen-
men well qualified to voice the deepest religious
convictions.

In addition to their character and learning,
three other characteristics commend the West-
minster Assembly to our confidence. The care and
thoroughness with which they performed their
work is evidenced by the fact that they labored
for five years on the catechisms, appointing
various committees, constantly reviewing and ex-
amining. Equal thought and care were bestowed
upon the Confession. Every statement, every al-

teration suggested on the Confession of Faith was
carefully examined through years of concentrated
study until the entire Assembly was of one mind
and fully agreed as to both doctrine and expres-
sion. During this time, 1643-1649, they held nearly
1200 sessions.

Their prayerful dependence upon God for light
and guidance is a second characteristic of the
Westminster Assembly. Not only were the daily
sessions opened and closed with prayer, but
regularly every month throughout the five and a
half years of its unhurried labors all business was
suspended that an entire day might be given to
fasting and prayer.

The most striking characteristic of the Assem-
bly was their loyalty to the Scriptures. The first
topic treated by the Confession of Faith is the
divine inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the
Word of God. Every member was required to vow
fidelity to the Scriptures, to "maintain nothing in
the point of doctrine but what I believe to be most
agreeable to the Word of God" {Idem, pp. 32, 33).

The work before the Assembly was not the
creation of a new creed, but the formulation of
doctrines already familiar to give to the Bible
system of truth a complete, impregnable state-
ment, to serve as a bulwark against error, as a
basis of ecclesiastical fellowship and co-operation,
and as a safe and effective instrument for the re-
ligious instruction of the people of God and their
children.

The Confession was built entirely upon "the
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever,"
and is, like the Bible, permanent. The chief glory
and value of the Standards is that they are built
on the Bible, and for this reason will need radical
change only when the Bible needs it.

All through the history of the church of Christ
there has been a ceaseless struggle to maintain the
truth. God has given us a marvelous deposit of
soul-saving truth, but Satan is very active. He is
always trying to find his way into the professing
church. He seeks to get control of it, in order that
he may bring its testimony to an end.

The result has been that at times apostasy has
won so strong a hold on the organization of some
great denomination that Christian people have
found it necessary to leave it, if they would be
true to their faith in Christ. They have had to
form new organizations, young in form but old
in teaching, maintaining what God has revealed
in His Word and declaring His soul-saving truth
to the hungry multitudes.

This process was what made necessary the
great Reformation of the sixteenth century, and
in these days it is making necessary a great
Twentieth Century Reformation.

Maintaining the True Spiritual Succession in
Doctrine and Life, in Government and Worship

In 1729, the Synod of Philadelphia, the original
synod and the supreme court of the church of that
day, adopted the Confession of Faith and the
Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Westminster
Assembly, and agreed that all its members, present
and future, should declare their agreement in and
approbation of these standards, "as being, in all
the essential and necessary articles, good forms of
sound words and systems of Christian doctrine,"
and should also adopt them as the confession of
their faith.

The same synod further declared that "they
judge the 'Directory for Worship, Discipline and
Government of the Church,' commonly annexed
to the Westminster Confession, to be agreeable in
substance to the Word of Cod, and founded there-
on, and therefore do earnestly recommend the
same to all their members, to be by them observed
as near as circumstances will allow and Christian
prudence direct."

The Svnod also stated: "We believe the general
platform of our government to be agreeable to the
Sacred Scriptures; but we do not believe that God
has been pleased so to reveal and enjoin every
minute circumstance of ecclesiastical government
and discipline as not to leave room for orthodox
churches of Christ, in these minutiae, to differ with
charity from one another."

Later, a committee was appointed to digest a
system of discipline and government adapted to
the state of the country in America. This amended
"Form of Government and Discipline" was
adopted in 1788 as the constitution of the Pres-
byterian Church in the U.S.A. and "unalterable
unless two-thirds of the Presbyteries under the
care of the General Assembly shall propose altera-
tions or amendments and such alterations or
amendments shall be agreed upon by the General
Assembly." At the same time the Directory of
Worship was revised, approved, and ratified.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, the
Catechisms, the Form of Government, and Dis-
cipline, and Directory of Worship were then de-
clared to be the constitution of the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A.

The Presbyterian Church, in setting forth the
Fomi of Government which it maintained as being
founded upon and agreeable to the Word of God,
reiterated, by way of introduction, several great
principles that are basic to and regulative of the
Form of Church Government. The first of these
principles was a quotation of a part of a statement
from the Westminster Confession of Faith,
Chapter XX, entitled, "Of Christian Liberty, and
Liberty of Conscience," Section II:

God alone is lord of the conscience, and hath left it
free from the doctrines and commandments of men
which are in any thing contrary to his Word, or beside
it, in matters of faith or worship.
It is in accord with this first principle that all
church government is to be regulated.

The Church is a divine society and as such
must be orderly and Scriptural. The form of
church government is to achieve these ends. The
Bible sets forth great principles concerning the life
of the people of God. No mandatory form of
government is given. Government is an instrument,
not an end.

Presbyterian government is based on apostolic
practice and Biblical principles. The apostolic
practice shows a simple Presbyterianism, govern-
ment by courts composed of elders elected by the
people. These courts are so related as to preserve
the unity of the church. The people of Christ
were governed and ministered to by pastors and
officers elected by themselves. Calvin taught that
every national church was to determine its ovm
policy.

A truly Protestant church is constitutional and
democratic. It is a free church for Christian free
men whose liberty consists in perfect subjection
to God's Word coupled with freedom from any-
thing contrary to it. It is a church in which Christ
has all authority, makes all laws; in which His
regenerated people simply obey Him and minister
and declare His commands.

Historically, Presbyterians have not allowed
their type of government to be exalted to the point
where it is regarded as of equal rank with the
system of doctrine revealed in the Word of God.
The two are not inextricably tied up with each
other and are not of equal importance.

As a branch of the church universal, the Bible
Presbyterian Synod maintains that its Presby-
terianism was founded upon and agreeable to the
Word, but its members believe that God looks
with more approval upon a church which is sound
in doctrine and life, but which is independent or
governed by bishops, than He does upon a church
whose government is strictly Presbyterian but

which hes in error or in spiritual deadness. Bible
Presbyterians realize that the great system of the
Bible is not inseparably tied to the Presbyterian
form of government.

"FOR GENERATIONS A FAITHFUL WITNESS" -
1614-1900

Presbvterianism came to America with the
Puritans. Although organized Presbyterianism in
America dates from the establishment of the first
Presbvtery in Philadelphia, in March, 1706, iso-
lated congregations are reported to have been in
existence from 1614. New England Puritans
founded Presbyterianism on Long Island in the
1640's. The Presbytery of Philadelphia was the
only Presbvterv in America from 1706 to 1716
when the first Svnod was constituted. The period
of the General Svnod lasted until the first General
Assembly convened in Philadelphia in 1789.

The formal relation of American Presbyte-
rianism to the Westminster Confession of Faith
began in 1729 when the Synod passed the Adopt-
ing Acts, bv which Acts the Westminster Con-
fession and the Catechisms became the Standards
of the church. Prior to 1729, ministers entering the
church from abroad were asked to subscribe to the
Westminster Confession in order to avoid taking
into the newly organized church any pastors who
might doubt the Confession. The Adopting Acts
of 1729 required all ministers to accept the West-
minster Confession and the Larger and the
Shorter Catechisms as a basis for ordination to
the Presbyterian ministry. By this Act the theology
of the Presbyterian Church became formally tied
to the Westminster Standards.

For generations the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A. maintained a true witness to the revelation
given by God in His Word. This church had been,
throughout its history, a stanch upholder of the
teachings of the Bible. For 300 years, from John
Knox to Charles Hodge, the corporate testimony
of the Presbyterian Church was undeviating.

However, about the middle of the 19th
century, a slow and subtle change began to
emerge.

With the publication of Darwin's Origin of the
Species in 1859, the theory of evolution began to
become popular and to infiltrate the churches. The
theory of evolution, when applied as a universal
principle, substitutes change for fixity as the law
of all things. All absolutes, including religious and
ethical absolutes, become reduced to relativity.
Along with this is noted the tendency to reinter-

pret theology. The teaching of evolution through
the years laid the foundation of doubt in the
accuracy of the Bible in many minds.

In 1878, brilliant scholars in Germany formu-
lated a series of theories known as the "higher
criticism." These theories divided the Bible into
many different parts alleged to have been written
in different centuries and put together long after
the time of the events recorded. The Bible was
robbed of its claim to be an authoritative declara-
tion of God's will and became instead a mere
record of the fallible thoughts of sinful human
beings. Gradually these ideas permeated the
theological institutions of Germany, of Great
Britain, and of the United States. Textbooks ad-
vocating the higher critical view of the Bible were
used in American seminaries. Ministers thus
trained did not accept the Bible as God's infallible
Word.

Dr. Lefferts A. Loetscher, in his book, The
Broadening Church, p. 28, writes: "It was the
case of W. Bobertson Smith in the Free Church of
Scotland which brought the issue of Biblical criti-
cism vividlv to the attention of American Presbvte-
rianism. In 1875 there appeared in the Encyclo-
paedia Britannica an article, 'Bible,' together with
other articles by William Bobertson Smith, pro-
fessor in the Scottish Free Church College of
Aberdeen. The article took an advanced position
on Biblical criticism, which caused increasing ten-
sion in General Assemblies of the Free Church
from 1876 to 1880." Dr. Smith was expelled from
his professorship by 1881, but continued in the
Scottish Church.

In 1882, the General Assembly felt constrained
to express itself clearly and decidedly on the
rationalistic treatment of the Holy Scriptures by
Protestant teachers in Europe, whose works were
introduced into America, and whose evil influence
was felt in American churches. The Assembly
warned all pastors and teachers of the danger to
young and inexperienced minds in the free use of
crude theories and unproved speculations on the
part of religious instructors, and reminded them
of the paramount importance of sustaining in
positive doctrine the authenticity, integrity,
truthfulness, and inspiration of the Holy Scrip-
tures against the unsanctified learning by which
an unbelieving world, through nominally Chris-
tian channels, assaults the church of God.

Among American Presbyterian theological
students who received information concerning the
Robertson Smith case in Scotland was Dr. Charles
A. Briggs, the most conspicuous champion of Bib-

lical criticism and the recognized leader of Presby-
terians favoring larger theological freedom.

In 1891, the first important heresy trial in the
Presbyterian Church attacked the doctrine of the
inspiration of the Scriptures. Professor Charles A.
Briggs, on the occasion of his inauguration as
professor of Biblical Theology in Union The-
ological Seminary of New York, then a Presbyterian
Seminary, gave an address, "The Authority of
Holy Scripture," in which he noted three great
fountains of divine authorit\': the Bible, the
Church, and Reason. In this address Dr. Briggs
assailed a basic doctrine of historic Christianity,
the doctrine of the infallibility of the Scriptures.
Dr. Briggs, who had studied in Germany shortly
after the Civil War, denied the verbal inspiration
of the Bible, saying that the Bible had serious mis-
takes in it, and claiming that the Scriptures were
not the only authority for faith. He put the
authority of the Scriptures on the same level with
the church and human reason. He also said that
Moses did not write the books attributed to him
and that Isaiah was divided into two parts, that
there were two Isaiahs instead of one as the Bible
says. These sayings were contrary to the creed and
the confession of the Presybyterian Church.

Professor Briggs was brought to trial first in

1891 by the Presbytery of New York, which dis-
missed the case. In 1892, the case was appealed to
the General Assembly which reversed the decision
of the Presbytery and ordered Dr. Briggs tried on
eight counts. Further, the General Assembly of

1892 in session in Portland, Oregon, in referring
to the Briggs case, adopted the Portland Deliver-
ance, a high and lofty concept of the doctrine of
the inspiration of the Scriptures. This deliverance
aroused opposition in the denomination.

In 1893, the General Assembly, in session in
Washington, D.C., tried and suspended Dr. Briggs
from the Presbyterian ministry, and issued the
following statement: "The Presbyterian Church in
the U.S.A. finds said Charles A. Briggs has uttered,
taught and propagated views, doctrines and teach-
ings as set forth in the charges, which are con-
trary to the Holy Scriptures and to the Standards
of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., and in viola-
tion of the ordination vows of said appellee, which
said erroneous teaching, views and doctrines strike
at the vitals of religion." The General Assembly

also declared its behef : "That the Bible as we now
have it, in its various translations and versions,
when freed from all errors and mistakes of trans-
lators, copyists and printers, is the very Word of
God and consequently wholly vdthout error." The
Presbyterian Church was faithful to its creed.

Thereupon, Union Theological Seminary in
New York withdrew from Presbyterian jurisdic-
tion, declared itself independent, and retained
the liberal Dr. Briggs as professor. Graduates of
this seminary continued to be received into the
Presbyterian Church as ministers. Thus we have
the beginning of the infiltration into the life of
the church of what is called modernism— the denial
of the Christian faith.

From this time on, the struggle through the
\'ears has been over the unbelief represented by
Dr. Briggs and the effort to bring the church to
the place where its official pronouncements would
permit men with heretical views to stay in the
church and preach in its pulpits. This is the
"inclusive church"— including in the church men
who do not believe or subscribe to the essential
doctrines of the church, but are still presented as
approved ministers.

Before the year 1900, the Presbyterian Church
tried two other cases of heresy dealing with the
inerrancy and the infallibility of the Bible— the
case of the Rev. Henry Preserved Smith, D.D.,
and the Rev. A. C. McGiffert, D.D. In both
cases the heretics were suspended and put out of
the church, and the General Assembly continued
to declare the full truthfulness of the Bible to be
a fundamental doctrine of the Presbyterian
Church.

The General Assembly of 1899 declared the
full truthfulness of the Bible to be a fundamental
doctrine of the Presbyterian Church and this
pronouncement was repeated by a number of
subsequent Assemblies. Nevertheless, the struggle
to maintain a faithful witness to the Bible and to
the Westminster Confession increased so that in
a relatively short time those who had been only
a small minority, denying the historic stand of the
church, had gained such control that they were
able to determine the policies of its boards and
agencies and even to expel from its ministry men
who desired to uphold the truth of the Word of
God.

THE STRUGGLE WITHIN
THE PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH IN THE U.S.A.

Early Revisions of the Presbyterian Standards

The agitation for the revision of its Standards,
which began in 1889 and culminated in 1903,
found the church still sound. Even the 1903
amendments brought no fundamental change in
the doctrinal witness of the church. The revision
committees of 1890 and 1900 brought in proposed
changes which were very slight, involving no re-
construction of the corrfessional system of doc-
trine. The changes touched on minor points and
did not undermine the doctrine of the infallibilitx'
of the Scriptures. In 1889, at the request of 14 or
15 presbvteries, the General Assemblv appointed a
committee to revise the Confession of Faith but
required the committee "not to propose any alter-
ations or amendments that will in any way impair
the integrity of the Reformed or Calvinistic system
taught in the Confession of Faith."

The Assembly decided to ask the presbyteries
their opinion. Dr. Briggs soon took his stand as a
leader for a new creed. Many saw, in this, possibil-
ities for church union which signified a more im-
portant contrast between conser\'atives and pro-
gressives by cutting across denominational lines.
At this time the majority of the presbyteries
wished revision. The strength of Presbyterian
liberalism lay in New York and in the Middle
West. The opposition to revision lay in Pennsyl-
vania and the South. The suggested revisions
which were minor in nature were rejected in 1893
by the presbyteries— lacked a two-thirds majority.

In 1903, the General Assembly adopted certain
amendments to the Confession of Faith, consisting
of a few alterations in the Confession which did
not seriously change its basic Calvinism. At the

turn of the century, there was strong conservative
influence in the church.

During the years 1904 to 1922 the church was
confronted with the theological issue of licensing
candidates for the ministry in New York Presby-
tery. Many Presbyterian theological students at-
tended Union Seminary in New York City. Some
members of the New York Presbytery, believing
that their presbytery was licensing candidates of
insufficient orthodoxy, appealed to the higher
courts of the church concerning these cases. The
church's future theological character was at stake.

The General Assembly of 1910 received a
complaint against New York Presbytery's licensing
of two candidates who refused to affirm their faith
in the virgin birth of Christ. The cases were dis-
missed for lack of evidence, but the inroads of
liberal theology, especially among the younger
clergvmen, prompted them to issue a five-point
doctrinal deliverance declaring that the Adopting
Act of 1729 called upon the church judicatory to
decide what articles of Presbyterian faith are
"essential and necessary." The Assembly then
affirmed belief in five doctrines as being essential
even to common Christianity, and decided that
Presbyterian ministerial candidates were to be
examined on the inerrancy of the Scriptures, the
virgin birth, the vicarious atonement, the bodily
resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the reality of the
miracles. The Assembly stated, "These five articles
of faith are essential and necessary. Others are
equally so."

From 1910 to 1916, this fundamentalist-mod-
ernist controversy continued to develop. In spite of
the declarations of the General Assembly, Union
Seminary continued to be a source of modernism

and its influence infiltrated other seminaries. The
General Assembly of 1916 received the same com-
plaint concerning able candidates for the Pres-
byterian ministry, and reaffirmed faith in the
same five doctrines of fundamental Christianity
found in the Word of God and the Westminster
Confession of Faith.

In 1918, Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, popular
spokesman for the liberals, and a Baptist, became
assistant minister of the First Presbyterian Church
of New York City. In May, 1922, Dr. Fosdick
preached a sermon in this church entitled, "Shall
the Fundamentalists Win?" in which he made a
ringing plea that Christian churches of that day
accept the more liberal theological views and
insisted that the Presbyterian and Baptist denom-
inations ordain the "liberal" candidates from
Union Seminary. On a recent visit to China, Dr.
Fosdick had observed the opposition of the newly
formed Bible Union of China to the liberalism
on the foreign field. His sermon was designed to
protect the liberal candidates and to open the
way for their unopposed ordination.

This sermon, which was given wide publicity,
brought on a crisis in the Presbyterian Church.
The 1923 General Assembly, in Indianapolis,
received twelve overtures on "the public proclama-
tion of the word in the Pulpit of the First Presbyte-
rian Church of New York City" and other related
overtures. "Overture No. 1," the first of eleven
overtures favoring lovalty to doctrines in all pul-
pits, was from the Presbytery of Philadelphia.

Answering the overtures, the General Assem-
bly reaffirmed the belief that the "famous five
points" were essential to the Christian faith and
to Presbyterian doctrine. The elders swayed the
vote of the Assembly in favor of the declaration,
but the clergy and most of those connected with
any of the boards or offices of the church opposed
the reaffirmation of faith. The liberal minority was
becoming stronger as a result of the "inclusivist
policy."

As a result. Dr. Fosdick, the most celebrated
champion of the modernist cause, was forced to
leave the First Presbyterian Church of New York
City. However, he became pastor of the well-
known Riverside Church, financed by the Rocke-
fellers and adorned by the likenesses of sixteen of
the world's greatest scientists, including Darwin.
There, on Riverside Drive, very close to Union
Seminary, he continued to teach his liberal views.

Famous Five Doctrines

The minutes of the 1923 General Assembly,
page 253, contains the following report:

The 135th General Assembly of the Presbyte-
rian Church in the United States of America
in answer to the Petition of the Overture pre-
sented by the Presbytery of Philadelphia regard-
ing the public proclamation of the word in
the Pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church of
New York City, expresses its profound sorrow
that doctrines contrary to the standards of the
Presbyterian Church, proclaimed in said Pulpit
have been the cause of controversy and division
in our Church and therefore would direct the
Presbytery of New York to take such action
( either through its present Committee or by the
appointment of a special commission) as will
require the preaching and teaching in the First
Presbyterian Church of New York to conform to
the system of doctrines taught in the Confession
of Faith; and that said Presbytery report its
action in a full transcript of its records to the
136th General Assembly of 1924.

Furthermore, the General Assembly calls
the attention of the Presbyteries to the deliv-
erance of the General Assembly of 1910, which
deliverance is hereby reaffirmed, and which is
as follows:

1. "It is an essential doctrine of the Word of
God and our standards that the Holy Spirit did
so inspire, guide and move the writers of Holy
Scripture as to keep them from error.

2. "It is an essential doctrine of the Word
of God and our standards that our Lord Jesus
Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.

3. "It is an essential doctrine of the Word of
God and our standards that Christ offered up
Himself a sacrifice to satisfy Divine justice and
to reconcile us to God.

4. "It is an essential doctrine of the Word of
God and of our standards concerning our Lord
Jesus Christ, that on the third day He rose again
from the dead with the same body with which
He suffered, with which also He ascended into
heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of
His Father, making intercession.

5. "It is an essential doctrine of the Word of
God as the supreme standard of our faith that
our Lord Jesus showed His power and love by
working mighty miracles. This working was not
contrary to nature, but superior to it."

The General Assembly, the highest court in the
Presbyterian Church, declared that these doc-
trines were essential to Presbyterian faith and that
men who came into the church to preach had to
subcribe to them if they were going to be pro-
moted to preach or labor in the Presbyterian
Church. These doctrines were declared essential
because the Bible declares them to be essential.
The General Assembly was adhering to the Bible
and the Westminster Confession of Faith.

This was the last time that such a declaration
was made by the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. This decla-
ration of 1923 in connection with the "Fosdick
Case" led directly to the Auburn Affirmation's
denial of the necessity of these five doctrines.

The Auburn Affirmation

The General Assembly of 1924, meeting in
Grand Rapids, was confronted with many im-
portant overtures and judicial cases, revealing the
increasing intensity of the controversy. Seven
judicial cases were directly related to the doctrinal
controversy; certain conservatives in New York
Presbvtery complained against the licensing of two
liberal candidates; certain members of Binghamton
Presbytery complained against the licensing of
still another candidate; certain liberal members of
New York Presbytery complained against the
actions taken in the matter relating to the First
Presbyterian Church of New York City.

Two overtures dealing with doctrinal matters
contrasted strikingly. Overture No. 42 from the
Philadelphia Presbytery concerned "Affirmation
of Faith in the Standards of the Church" and was
protested by certain liberal members of the
Presbvtery. Overture No. 60 from the Presbvter\'
of Cincinnati was entitled, "On the Affinnation de-
signed to safeguard the Unity and Liberty of the
Church." This overture came to be known as the
"Auburn Affirmation" because it was framed in
Auburn, New York, and was designed to protect
the liberal candidates for ordination in cases in
which they were attacked in presbyterial licensure
or ordination for not accepting one or all five of
the doctrines which the Assembly of 1923 had de-
clared to be essential to Presbyterian faith. The
uppermost thought in the mind of the Affirma-
tionists was unity, toleration, and compromise-
to have unity and liberty. Knowing the disagree-
ment concerning "essential" doctrines among
Presbyterian ministers, the Affirmation suggested

a compromise, an inclusive policy. The acceptance
of the Affirmation would allow believers to be
unequally yoked together with unbelievers, con-
trary to God's command and to the peril of souls.

The Auburn Affirmation was a protest against
the assembly's doctrinal deliverances of 1910, 1916,
and directed specifically against the Assembly's
declaration of 1923, and asserted that the
doctrine of Biblical inerrancy is not only false but
harmful and that the other four doctrines need not
be held by Presbyterian ministers. It stated that
the "famous five points" were theories and that
they were not the only theories allowed by the
Standards of the church and that ministerial can-
didates, regardless of what theories they might
hold in these fields were worthy of full confidence
and fellowship within the church. Not only did
the Affirmation deny five essential doctrines of
the Word of God but stated further that the
General Assemblies of 1910, 1916, and 1923 erred
in declaring them essential to the Christian faith.
This heretical Affirmation was a menace to the
true peace and purity of the Presbyterian Church.
It expressed a new attitude to the Christian faith
and offered the substance of a new creed. By
advocating freedom of interpretation of the creed,
it actually changed the creedal character of the
church. The signers considered the Assembly's
deliverances "unconstitutional"! without the con-
currence of the presbyteries.

The Affinnation, although it was of a revolu-
tionary character, had impressive endorsements.
Signed originally by 150 ministers, it came, in
time, to have 1293 clerical signatures and soon
proved to be a powerful influence in the Assembly
and in the denominational life. The signers were
men influential in the church's life and work. They
became a symbol of a new Presbyterianism and in
increasing numbers were placed in positions of
authority. Not one of the men who signed this
document was ever disciplined. In fact, some of
them subsequently held the highest offices in the
Presbyterian Church.

The Auburn Affirmation was not an isolated
document standing all by itself, but was rather
the bold and defiant climax in a long and bitter
struggle between Bible-believing orthodoxy and
liberals. It can only be understood in its true mean-
ing and purpose when it is compared with the
doctrinal statements in the Westminster Con-
fession of Faith and the five doctrines adopted by
the General Assembly of 1923. It was the high-
water mark of the struggle, undramatic, unnoticed,
but final.

A conservative was elected to the high office
of moderator of the 1924 Assembly by a narrow
margin. The conservatives were so elated over
this victory that when the Auburn Affirmation was
brought to a vote, no action was taken. This
signified that the Affirmation had the sanction of
the Assembly itself. The conservatives were sat-
isfied with the appearance of the Assembly, the
moderatorship, and let go the substance, the
doctrinal challenge of the Auburn Affirmation.
The conservatives hoped that the Auburn AffiiTna-
tion would be adjudicated, but instead it was very
quietly pushed aside and nothing was done about
it. This is where the battle was lost. Had the
Assembly of 1924 taken action against the Auburn
Affirmation, the church in all probability would
have been split then and there. The modernist
party was awake to the danger and knew that at
all costs it must prevent any action on the overture.
Most of the conservatives had not even heard of
the overture. It was not until vears later that the
real significance of the Affirmation became
apparent.

The General Assembly of 1925 also received a
number of protests and appeals against the actions
of the Presbytery of New York in licensing can-
didates who did not accept the doctrine of the
virgin birth of Christ and other essential Presbyte-
rian doctrines. In a case involving two of these
licentiates the Assembly ruled that these men
ought not to have been licensed since they could
not accept the plain statements of fact on the
virgin birth as given in Matthew and Luke
( Minutes, p. 86 ) . In this manner, the General
Assembly tried to reverse the position of the
Auburn Affirmation and their decision was a
severe blow to the proponents of inclusive church-
manship. Certain gentlemen from New York
Presbytery threatened to withdraw from the
church. Other Affirmationists made protests,
and such an uproar ensued that peace was restored
only by a promise from the moderator to com-
promise the case.

The moderator appointed a special commis-
sion of fifteen, hand picked for the purpose of
securing a report that would be acceptable to the
Affirmationists and to New York Presbytery and
thus prevent a split in the church. After studying
the Affirmation for a year, the Commission re-
ported to the Assembly of 1926 that the protests of
the Auburn Affirmation were well founded. Their
report was adopted almost unanimously by the
1926 Assembly. This Commission of Fifteen also
smoothed over the case in such a way that the

decision against the New York Presbytery was not
enforced. The church not only tolerated these
candidates but chose one of them to be its
official delegate at an international gathering in
Madras.

The hearings before the Commission were
secret; the Auburn Affirmation was not mentioned
in the report and was alluded to only in the
most vague and misleading way; the decision
regarding the virgin birth remained a dead letter;
the facts about the state of the church were con-
cealed.

The General Assembly, since 1925, was no
longer able to maintain the doctrine of the virgin
birth of Christ as essential for ministerial ordina-
tion.

In this way two great assemblies of the church
prepared the way for an area of toleration in the
interpretation of the great fundamental doctrines
of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.

Before the publication of the Auburn Affiima-
tion in January, 1924, there was no widespread
departure from the faith in the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A. The reaction of the church
to the Briggs, Smith, and McGiffert cases in-
dicated that during the closing decades of the 19th
century the Presbyterian Church was still sound
in the faith.

THE STRUGGLE WITHIN THE CHURCH

In 1923, the Christian position was represented
bv a strong evangelical pronouncement of the
General Assembly. This pronouncement, consid-
ered "illegal" by the liberals in the church, caused
unrest. In 1923 and 1924 the battle between
Christianity and liberalism entered its last and
most acute phase in the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A. After 1924, the union of the modernist
party and the bureaucracy became a solid one.
No man was elected to the moderatorship who
was not acceptable to the Affirmationists. The
Affirmationists affected the church's corporate
testimony through its agencies which are the
church's voice. By 1926, nothing could be done
about it.

The years from 1924 to 1936 form the most
important part of the struggle which led to the
formation of the Bible Presbyterian Church. These
were the years of struggle within the denomination
when the conservatives worked hard to reform the
church from within. Although they were fighting
a losing battle, they recognized that the church
had never formally assented to the Affirmation in

any legal way, or otherwise become offically
apostate. In 1936, the General Assembh' in
session in Syracuse, New York, rendered the
church officially apostate and adjudicated the
Auburn Affirmation.

The Reorganization of Princeton
Theological Seminary

The rise of the apostasy in the 20th century is
the result of an educational process which has
been going on for over one hundred years and
which has reached tremendous proportions in the
last forty or fifty years. It is the seminary today
that determines what the church will be tomorrow.
As go the seminaries today, so go the churches in
the next generation.

The need for trained men in the ministry was
an early concern of the Presbyterian Church in
the U.S.A. In 1812, Princeton Theological Semi-
nary was organized by the General Assembly.
Auburn Seminary was begun in 1819 by certain
presbyteries in the Synod of New York. Union
Theological Seminary in the city of New York
was founded by Presbyterian individuals in 1836,
and not under an ecclesiastical control.

In 1885, the Assembly pronounced, "Our
theological seminaries stand related to the de-
fense of the truth as our military schools to the
defense of the country."

In 1870, Union proposed a plan by which it
and other seminaries should be vmder the super-
vision and approval of the General Assembly. This
plan was accepted. But when the General As-
sembly of 1893, under the leadership of Princeton
men, convicted Professor Briggs and suspended
him from the ministry of the Presbyterian
Church for his refusal to accept the doctrine of
the inerrancy of the Scriptures, Union declared
the plan illegal and itself independent. Union
Seminary withdrew from the Presbyterian Church
and continued to teach heresy. Since that time.
Union has championed the position of men who,
like Professor Briggs, hold liberal views concerning
the Word of God. Graduates of this institution
continued to be received into the Presbyterian
Church and the onrush of unbelief added momen-
tum to the increase of modernism within the
church.

When Union Seminary withdrew from the
jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church, the As-
sembly deemed it inexpedient to enter any contest
in the matter of endowment and property of
Union Seminary, choosing rather to leave the

whole matter to the honor and stewardship of
those in charge of the Seminary.

In 1897, a graduate of Union Seminary (class
of 1885) who had studied in Europe, Dr. A. C.
McGiffert, created a furor by his book, A Histon/
of Christianity in the Apostolic Age, and in 1899
was condemned by the General Assembly for
heresy. Dr. McGiffert withdrew from the Presbyte-
rian Church and became a Congregationalist. Dr.
McGiffert, who had served as professor of church
history in Union Seminary since 1893, became
president of the Seminary in 1917 and served in
that capacity until 1926. His book, A History of
Christian Thought, published in 1932, reveals
hostility to "outworn dogmas" and "superstitious
creeds." Both hostilities rest upon a hostility to the
Christ of the New Testament, the Lord's Anointed.

Dr. Henry Sloan Coffin succeeded Dr. McGif-
fert as president of Union Seminary and in May,
1936, preached the centennial sermon. Dr. Coffin,
a well-known liberal leader and signer of the Au-
burn Affirmation, said: "Our founders were
middle-of-the-road men. They lived in a disturbed
time and were annoyed at agitators on the right
and on the left who seemed to them to distract
followers of Christ from concentrating on the main
task of making Christ the Lord of the world's life.
At a time when partisans were attempting divisive
measures, they started this seminary as an inclu-
sive institution."

When Dr. Henry Van Dusen, chairman of the
foreign committee of the Board, accepted the
presidency of Union Theological Seminary in 1936,
the Board highly commended him. Dr. Van Dusen
refused to affirm belief in the virgin birth of
Christ. Nevertheless, the Presbytery of New York
ordained him. Dr. Van Dusen wrote, "To the
logical mind the statements in the Chalcedonian
Creed regarding the deity of Christ are distilled
nonsense."

In 1937, Professor Harry F. Ward of Union
Theological Seminary was called "the outstanding
purveyor of Communist doctrines and philoso-
phies" in higher educational institutions of
America, according to a statement made by Mr.
R. K. Hayes of Middleboro, Mass., as he testi-
fied before a legislative commission in Boston,
investigating Nazi, Fascist, Communist, and Ku
Klux Klan activities.

Auburn Theological Seminary, the second
oldest theological institution of the Presbyterian
Church, had long been notable in the fight to
liberalize the church doctrinally. Auburn, quite
appropriately, was the point of origin of the

Auburn Affirmation. In 1940, when Auburn failed
to open, following a merger with Union Seminary
in New York in 1939, the U.S. Government leased
the buildings of Aubuni Seminary for the establish-
ment of the largest National Youth Administration
training center. The buildings for more than 100
years (since 1819) had served as a religious in-
stitution. Newspapers carried headlines such as
"Transition— From Theology to Machine."

Auburn was allowed to join its resources with
the more famed Union Theological Seminarv,
independent since 1893, thus removing more than
one and a half million dollars in assets from the
jurisdiction of the General Assembly. The Assem-
bly agreed to the alienation of property from
the church that it might be used to promote New
York modernism.

Defender of the Faith

"There is no such thing as presenting truth with-
out attacking error."— Machen

J. GRESHAM MACHEN
1881 - 1937

In the bra\e fight to keep the Presbyterian
Church, U.S.A., true to its early standards, J.
Gresham Machen, D.D., stands out as the cham-
pion of the fundamentalist cause in the 1920's and
30's, and as the greatest defender of the Christian
faith in the earlv twentieth centurv. It was Dr.
Machen who bore the brunt of the terrific attack
of unbelief and apostasy which gripped the
Presbyterian Church. Dr. Machen stood up in this
great battle as a scholar and devoted Christian,
as a soldier tried and true, unashamed and ready
to be "put out of the synagogue ' for the sake of
his Master.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1881, he re-
ceived the A.B. degree from John Hopkins Uni-
versity in 1901 and the B.D. from Princeton
Theological Seminary in 1905. In 1921, Hampden-
Sydnev College in Virginia honored him with the
D.D. degree and in 1928 Wheaton College in
Illinois conferred upon him the degree Litt.D.

Upon his graduation from Princeton Seminarv
he spent a year in Europe studying in Germanv at
the universities of Marburg and Gettingen, and in
1906 he became a member of the teaching staff of
Princeton Seminary, first as instructor and later
as assistant professor of New Testament literature
and exegesis, which position he occupied until the
reorganization of Princeton Seminary in 1929.

In the field of New Testament scholarship. Dr.
Machen was without an equal and was recognized
not onlv in America, but also in Europe and
around the world. His contributions to the Chris-
tian world will endure for years. His scholarly
productions were a part of his battle-line activity.
No one has ever surpassed and very few, if any,
have equalled the brilliant defense of the Scrip-
tures that Dr. Machen produced. His first work.
The Origin of Paul's Religion (1921), dealt with
the origin of Christianity and was a critique of the
view of modem liberalism. The book was re-
viewed in countries around the globe and estab-
lished his reputation as a scholarly defender of
historic Christianity. It remains a great book,
whether measured in terms of learning or logic,
and with The Virgin Birth of Christ ( 1931 ) forms
Machen's two great scholarly productions. His
epochal work on The Virgin Birth of Christ is
truly monumental, the greatest work on the sub-
ject produced in the history of the Christian
Church. Christianity and Liberalism (1923) and
What Is Faith? (1925) dealt with the issue of
apostasy and as polemical writings are unanswer-
able. The purpose of What Is Faith? was to combat
the anti-intellectualism of contemporaneous mod-

ernism with its false separation of faith and
knowledge. On the positive side, it aimed to ex-
pound the nature of Christian faith in terms of
the teachings of the Bible. Christianiti/ and Liber-
alism, an immensely popular and influential book,
gave to Machen a conspicuous role as one of the
most effective spokesmen for the conservative side
and ^aced him into the broader controversy be-
tween Christianity and modernism, a world-wide
struggle.

AH of his books gave him an unequalled recog-
nition in the Christian world as one who stood
intelligently and fearlessly for the historic Chris-
tian faith. He was a Christian scholar and an
active soldier in the battle for the faith. Because
of his scholarship, his monumental works, his
directness, his simplicity, his sincerity, no man
could gainsay him. His arguments could not be
answered. The only answer that anyone had was
a personal attack. Men could not impugn his
doctrine or his sincerity, so they talked of his
method.

Dr. Machen was brought to the front of the
battle for the faith in 1920 when, for the first time,
he attended the General Assembly as a com-
missioner. At this time, the issue of church union
brought Dr. Machen into conflict with Dr. J.
Ross Stevenson, president of Princeton Seminary
since 1914, and one of the leading members of the
1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference which in-
augurated the modem ecumenical movement. The
same conflict included a close friend of Dr.
Stevenson's, Dr. Charles R. Erdman, a professor in
Princeton Seminary from 1906 to 1936. Dr. Erd-
man was also present in Edinburgh and a member
of the Foreign Missions Board from 1906 to 1942.
The significance of this was that from 1920, the
beginning of the fundamentalist-modernist con-
troversy, the issues of church union, the re-organ-
ization of Princeton Seminary, and modernism in
the Foreign Board— all doctrinal issues in the
Church— were inextricably bound together.

The General Assembly of 1920 handed down to
the presbyteries for their ratification a "Plan of
Organic Union" with about twenty other church
bodies. This plan of union contained positive
evidence of the Presbyterian Church's infection
with naturalistic liberalism to an alarming degree
and attacked doctrines basic to the Christian faith.
This liberalism was not Christianity but another
religion. Had the plan of union been ratified, the
Presbyterian Church would have given up its
corporate testimony to the truth. Dr. Machen
recognized as early as 1920 that there was a

noticeable drift away from the Standards of the
church, but the extent of the corruption of the
church came as a distinct shock.

The plan pointed up a profound doctrinal dif-
ference within the faculty of Princeton Seminary,
for Dr. Stevenson, the president, presented the
majority report favoring the plan. Dr. Erdman also
favored the plan. The General Assembly refused
to allow debate on the plan which undermined the
faith of the church at it roots and sought to unite
the Presbyterian Church with other bodies on
the basis of a vague preamble.

Dr. Machen, in The Presbyterian, criticized the
plan, a phase of the modern ecumenical move-
ment, on doctrinal grounds. Due to his effective
campaign, the plan was defeated in the 1921
General Assembly by a vote of 100 presbyteries
voicing approval of the plan, and 150 opposing it.
This vote accentuated the disunity in the church
as a whole and also within the faculty of Princeton
Seminary. According to Dr. Machen, liberalism
had no rightful place in the church. His attitude
toward doctrine ruled out inclusivism. Dr. Steven-
son wanted to have liberals in the church on the
ground of trying to win them. The reorganization
of Princeton Seminary in 1929 was a long-range
result of the influences of Dr. Stevenson and Dr.
Erdman.

The victory of the five-point doctrinal declara-
tion of the 1923 Assembly was a hollow one. New
York Presbytery ignored the doctrinal mandate
and minimized the liberalism of the presbytery. It
licensed Henry P. Van Dusen and another can-
didate for the ministry who refused to affirm be-
lief in the virgin birth of Christ. The Auburn
Affirmation, a denial of the doctrinal deliverance
of 1923, was presented to the 1924 Assembly and
was not acted upon, opening the door wider for
the inclusivist policy.

In 1925, a controversy arose in Princeton over
the Middle Atlantic Association of Seminaries, a
branch of the Student Christian Movement.
Student delegates from Princeton found this as-
sociation to be dominated by modernism and
recommended that Princeton withdraw. There
was much argument about the situation. The
president of the Seminary threw his influence in
favor of the Association. Dr. Machen, professor
of New Testament literature and evangelism, and
others urged a complete break with any association
that favored modernism.

The students by an overwhelming majority
voted to withdraw from the Association. This
situation involved the position of the faculty ad-

visor of the undergraduates which had been filled
bv Dr. Charles R. Erdman for 18 years. The
situation became more and more acute as pro-
fessors and students took sides and the two
governing bodies of the Seminary disagreed. The
result was that Dr. Erdman failed to be re-elected
as faculty advisor and the League of Evangelical
Students was formed, giving expression to Prince-
ton's warm and vital type of Christianity.

The year 1925 was famous for the Scopes trial,
the last stand of fundamentalism against the more
liberal or modernist belief. The General Assembly
refused to reaffirm the five-point deliverance of
1910, 1916, and 1923. The moderator. Dr. Erdman,
adroitly avoided a split in the church and did not
enforce the 1923 doctrinal deliverance upon New
York Presbytery. Thereby an important part of the
Auburn Affirmationists' theological arguments be-
came the official position of the church. The
Auburn Affirmation was firmly established. This
was a turning point in the theological history of
the church. The modernist-indifferentist coalition
machine took control and tightened its control with
every successive year thereafter.

The Assembly of 1926 made a major decision
when it appointed the Princeton Investigating
Committee at the request of the trustees and a
minority of the directors of the Seminary. This
constituted an attack upon Princeton Seminary.
What was at stake was the Calvinism of the Con-
fession of Faith.

Princeton Seminary, organized in 1812, stood
for more than a century a bulwark in the defense
of Biblical inerrancy. Princeton theology guaran-
teed an inerrant Bible and presupposed it as the
foundation of its theological method and stmcture.
The implications of this theology were uncom-
promisingly hostile to the negative conclusions of
higher criticism. It was under the leadership of
Princeton men that in 1893 the Presbyterian
Church expelled from its fellowship a professor in
Union Seminary who denied the inerrancy of the
Scriptures. Princeton, until the spring of 1929,
stood at the very height of its influence— honored
by all who cherished Presbyterian liberty and the
glories of the Reformed Faith.

Princeton Seminary, the last bulwark against
liberalism, had to be destroyed. The church lead-
ers who wanted the inclusivist church decided that
the voice of Princeton had to be silenced. A move
was made to reorganize the Seminary. The Com-
mittee appointed by the 1926 Assembly investi-
gated the problem at Princeton for three years,
reporting its progress to the Assemblies of 1927 and

1928. Their recommendation, made in 1929, was
that the Seminary be reorganized under one
governing Board to make it conform to the drift
of the times.

A brilliant scholar and a beloved professor in
Princeton Seminary, Dr. J. Gresham Machen, led
the fight to preserve Princeton Seminary. With a
profound sense of a commitment to a great cause,
he wanted to save Princeton for the Reformed
Faith. He prepared a full statement in a 48-page
printed booklet entitled, "The Attack Upon
Princeton Seminary, a Plea for Fair Play," and
circulated more than 20,000 copies at his own
expense.

In the midst of this controversy there was need
for information and facts. Dr. Machen felt that a
cause without an official organ was dumb. Since
he considered the official organ to be more in-
dispensable than anything else, he gave vigorous
and generous support to the magazine, The
Presbyterian, which came into being to protect
Princeton Seminary with full information. Prince-
ton was safe for three years in the debates of 1926,
1927, and 1928. Victory for the conservatives was
in sight when the Assembly voted in 1928 in
Tulsa to postpone action on Princeton for another
year, asking Presbyterian papers to withhold com-
ment on Princeton during the intervening twelve
months. This was the defeat of the attempt to hold
Princeton true to its historic position as to the
infallibility of the Word of God. The editor of
The Presbyterian, Dr. Samuel G. Craig, held the
position that the General Assembly could not
bind privately owned papers, and considered
himself free to print whatever news would pro-
mote the welfare of the church. Shortly before the
twelve-month period was over. Dr. Craig pub-
Hshed several reports, but the pledge of secrecy
had done its work.

The General Assembly of 1929, meeting in St.
Paul, voted to reorganize Princeton Seminary in
the interest of theological liberalism. Debate on
the subject was perfunctory. No fair hearing was
granted to those against Princeton's reorganization.
The plan of reorganization was illegal and desired
only by the minority on the Board of Directors.

The General Assembly took the control of
Princeton Seminary out of the hand of a Board of
Directors, the majority of whom were openly
opposed to the Auburn Affirmation, and placed
it in the hands of a Board of Control acceptable to
the Auburn Affirmationists. Two members of the
new Princeton Board were Affirmationists and the
Board as a whole commended the Affirmation

to the confidence of the church. Princeton Semi-
nary, the last institution in the church to stand up
against inckisivism, fell, and a new institution of a
radically different type took its place. Princeton's
glorious testimony was silenced.

When Princeton Seminary fell into the hands
of the inclusivists, the entire church, then, was
in the hands of the liberal inclusivists, so far as
the stream of supply of leadership was concerned.
Succeeding years have demonstrated that the
Seminary has conformed.

The 1930 Assembly in Cincinnati was very
peaceful. Nearly forty Union graduates as com-
missioners caused no trouble. Dr. Henry Sloan
Coffin, liberal president of Union Theological
Seminary and a signer of the Auburn Affirmation,
reported on his visit to the reunion of Scottish
churches and was given a salvo of applause.

In June, 1930, Dr. Samuel G. Craig was re-
moved as editor of The Presbyterian. In 1931, The
Presht/tcrian underwent a further change of policy
which resulted in having no paper in the Presbyte-
rian Church committed to a militant defense of
its faith against its enemies. In 1933, the Affirma-
tionists succeeded in discontinuing the magazine
altogether.

At first the changes were slight, but Princeton
veered farther and farther from the Word of God.
The Seminary harbored for a while Dr. Josef L.
Hromadka, the greatest apologist for Russian
Communism that the Kremlin has in the church
today. The Rev. Dr. John A. Mackay was elected
third president of Princeton Seminary in 1936. He
succeeded the Rev. Dr. J. Ross Stevenson, retiring
under the age rule. Dr. Mackay had written a
number of articles in 1933 praising the "Oxford
Group Movement" or "Buchmanism" and "Bar-
thianism," and presented them both as Christian
movements. In 1937, Dr. E. G. Homrighausen
joined the Princeton faculty as professor of Chris-
tian Education. His book, Christianity in America:
A Crisis, states, "The old idea of an infallible Bible,
inspired in every jot and tittle, which is often
associated with preaching, has run its course"
(p. 105). "Few intelligent Protestants can still hold
to the idea that the Bible is an infallible book" (p.
118).

The late Emil Brunner, a Barthian, was invited
to be guest professor of Systematic Theology for
1938-39. Professor Otto Piper of the New Testa-
ment Department rejected outright the plenary
and verbal inspiration of the Bible as outlined bv
Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield.

In 1941, Princeton made its peace with the

pioneer modernistic Union Seminary of New York.
Princeton has now gone the way of Union and
Briggs. Today Princeton Seminary is a citadel of
neo-orthodoxy, rejecting the inerrancy of the
Scriptures. The Confession of 1967 of the United
Presbyterian Church was prepared bv a commit-
tee chaired by Edward A. Dowev, Jr., of Princeton
Seminary. Princeton Seminary is taking the lead in
denying the Word of God and Presbyterian
Standards.

The end of the old Princeton marked the end
of an epoch in the history of the modem church
and the beginning of a new era in which new
evangelical agencies had to be formed.

Westminster Theological Seminary

When the battle to preserve the old Princeton's
testimony was lost, the faith and conviction of
Dr. J. Gresham Machen and those associated with
him manifested itself in action. They immediately
established Westminster Theological Seminary to
continue the true witness of the old Princeton. The
only wise thing to do when Princeton was lost was
to continue the true testimony in a new seminary.

In June, 1929, Dr. Machen with others left
Princeton Seminary and formed Westminster
Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Four
Princeton professors volunteered to start its
faculty and a fifth soon joined. The late Dr. Robert
Dick Wilson, D.D., Ph.D., LL.D., was one of the
founders of Westminster. Four months after
Princeton was reorganized, 29 young men left the
two upper classes at Princeton to become the
nucleus of the Westminster student body.

In 1906, Dr. Machen had become instructor
and assistant professor of New Testament Litera-
ture and Evangelism at Princeton Theological
Seminary. He served Princeton faithfully until
1929 when he became professor of New Testa-
ment in Westminster Theological Seminary where
he remained until his death on January 1, 1937.

Westminster Seminary was independent and
free of any ecclesiastical control. It was founded
on the Bible and the Westminster Confession of
Faith to carry on and perpetuate the policies and
traditions of Princeton as it existed prior to its
reorganization. But it was not to be tolerated.
A whispering campaign began to be noted against
the Seminary suggesting that its president, pro-
fessors, trustees, supporters, and students be
treated as rebels. This campaign spread to include
Presbyterians of all institutions independent of

Presbyterian ecclesiastical control. By 1932, in its
fourth year of operation, Westminster had 26
graduates serving in Presbyterian churches.

In the fall of 1933, New Brunswick Presbytery
required ministerial candidates from Westminster
Seminary to pledge written support of the
authorized boards and agencies of the church.

In 1934, after six years, Westminster had 112
graduates in 19 states and nine foreign countries.
Sixteen graduates were serving on foreign fields.

By October, 1935, Westminster graduates were
called "centers of dissension" before Synod by an
Auburn Affirmationist and a Union Seminary
graduate.

Official opposition to Westminster graduates
was evidenced in April, 1936, in Waterloo, Iowa,
in a resolution requiring the Committee on
Vacancy and Supply not to employ any man as
supply for this field who was identified vdth West-
minster Seminary.

The New Jersey Presbytery, in session at
Woodbury, N. J., June 30, 1936, proclaimed that
it would not receive into its membership any
graduate of Westminster Seminary nor any can-
didate for the ministry who proposed to attend
Westminster Seminary.

The division continued to the Foreign Board.

Modernism and the Board of
Foreign Missions

The same virus, the same idea that all believers
and unbelievers could live together and have
different "viewpoints" concerning Jesus Christ
found its way into the mission fields. Graduates
from liberal seminaries were accepted as mission-
aries on the same footing as conservatives. As
early as 1921, many missionaries in China, includ-
ing some Presbyterians, were much affected by
Biblical higher criticism, with the result that there
were two distinct parties among the missionaries.
The fundamental issue in China was the same as
in America— that of the trustworthiness and divine
authority of the Word of God.

In 1927, eight presbyteries of the Presbyterian
Church in China, with Congregationalists, English
Baptists, Methodists, and others formed the in-
clusive "Church of Christ in China" wherein
evangelicals and modernists attempted to work
together on a doctrinal basis broad enough for
all.

But there was also a strong continuing
Presbyterian Church in China with 20,000 mem-

bers and a theological seminary. This Presbyterian
Church reorganized its General Assembly and in
1929 joined the thoroughly fundamental "Chinese
League of Christian Churches," organized as a
protest against liberalism. Later the adjective
"Chinese" was dropped in order to open the
movement to all Christians. Five nationalities
attended the third anniversary in 1932.

In 1930, a commission of laymen went out to
the mission fields to make an appraisal. When they
came back they said that Christianity had much
to learn from heathen religions and that Christian-
ity is not the only true religion. The Laymen's For-
eign Mission Inquiry, a self-appointed group, was
largely financed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., chair-
man and trustee of the Riverside Church pastored
by the well-known liberal, Dr. Harry Emerson Fos-
dick. No member of the Laymen's Commission had
any real sympathy for Biblical Christianity. The
Commission did not approve the mission of the
church and recommended far-reaching changes
in missionary methods and aims.

The report of this Commission, published in
1932 in a book entitled Re-Thinking Missions,
attacked Christian missions at the most vital point
since it said that other religions are sufficient to
give knowledge of God. It stated: "It is clearly not
the duty of the Christian missionary to attack the
non-Christian systems of religion. It is his primary
duty to present his conception of the true way of
life and let it speak for itself."

The League of Christian Churches in China
issued a statement protesting the proposals of the
Laymen's Missionary Inquiry and urged all
churches, mission boards, and individual believers
to repudiate the report. The Bible Union of China
also repudiated it.

In January, 1933, Dr. Robert E. Speer, senior
secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions,
answered the report in a pamphlet, " 'Re-Thinking
Missions' Examined," which purported to be "An
Attempt at a Just Review of the Report of the
Appraisal Commission of the Laymen's Foreign
Mission Inquiry." This was sent to all Presbyterian
ministers. Dr. Speer disagreed with the two major
recommendations but suggested a compromise
endorsed by the Board. The Board took no action
on the report but dodged the issue. Two members
of the Foreign Board were also members of the
original Laymen's Foreign Mission Inquiry which
appointed the appraisal commission.

This report focused the attention of the world
on foreign missions, so that the Foreign Board bore
the brunt of the controversy concerning modem-

ism. However, the two other great teaching Boards
of the Church, the Board of National Missions and
the Board of Christian Education, were deeply
implicated in the controversy. The Board of
Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in
the U.S.A., organized in 1837 by the General
Assembly, was responsible for all the work of
the Church in foreign fields, including the educa-
tion of children and the training of a native
ministr\'. When the Foreign Board became tainted
with modernism, the whole foreign missionarv
enterprise of the Church was radically affected.

In 1926, only two years after the signing of the
Auburn Affirmation, five out of fifteen ministerial
members of the Board of Foreign Missions were
signers of the Affirmation. Eight foreign mission-
aries had signed the Affirmation and bv 1929 two
other signers were sent to the foreign field. Later,
another signer became candidate secretarv, one of
the most important positions on the Board, where
he engaged in anti-evangelical propaganda.
Fundamental missionaries were sent to the field
only if they promised to work in harmony with Af-
firmationists. No militant fundamentalist needed
to apply to the Foreign Board. The Board's
attitude toward the Christian Gospel, its secre-
taries, and the agencies with which the Board
co-operated was extremely unsatisfactory. The
conservatives in the Church felt that the signers
of such a heretical document as the Auburn Affir-
mation were not fit persons to be missionaries or
members of any of the Church's official boards.

Soon after the publication of Re-Thinking Mis-
sions, one of the missionaries of the Board and a
well-known author. Pearl S. Buck, in articles pub-
lished in The Christian Centuri) and Harpers
Magazine, endorsed the report. In these and other
articles Mrs. Buck rejected directly the Bible
doctrine of sin and agreed fully with Re-Thinking
Missions in belittling preaching as over against
living the Christian life. In the face of outspoken
liberalism, the Board did not dismiss Mrs. Buck
or even call her to order, but rather tolerated her
and thereby become deeply involved in her de-
structive views. When she resigned, the Board
accepted her resignation "with deep regret"
and with no word of disagreement as to her views,
and thereby represented a fundamentally dis-
honest policy. The Board appealed for funds
from modernists on the ground that it tolerated
modernism and also appealed to Bible-believing
Christians on the ground that it is true to the
Bible and to the Confession of Faith.

On July 15, 1932, the candidate secretary of
the Foreign Board sent to over one thousand
students preparing for foreign missionary service
a letter in which he recommended a list of de-
votional books for spiritual growth. This list in-
cluded books written by Dr. Harry Emerson Fos-
dick and Dr. Daniel J. Fleming, a signer of the
heretical Auburn Affinnation and professor of
Missions in Union Seminary. Both of these authors
were hostile to Christianity. Both were connected
with Union Seminary and reflected the un-
scriptural viewpoint of that institution.

As the compromise and modernism grew and
developed, no one lifted a voice against it. No
one objected to the outspoken unbelief of Pearl S.
Buck. It was the voice of Dr. J. Gresham Machen,
a scholar and a professor, that led the movement
to reform the Board of Foreign Missions and make
it conform to the Bible and to Presbyterian
Standards.

The attention of Dr. Machen and his as-
sociates was directed to the fact that young men
who desired to do foreign missionary work in line
with the historic position of their denomination
were often looked upon with suspicion by the
Board of Foreign Missions, while graduates of
modernistic seminaries were accepted without
difficulty. Abundant evidence came into Dr.
Machen's hands that missionaries of the Presbyte-
rian Church in the U.S.A. were in some cases
even denying Biblical truth instead of proclaim-
ing it. It was seen that something positive must be
done to advance the Gospel in foreign lands.

On January 20, 1933, Dr. Machen introduced
an overture in the Presbytery of New Brunswick
concerning modernism in the Foreign Board, its
members, its candidate secretary, its officers, its
hterature, and its union enterprises. The overture
was presented in January and made the order of
the day for the meeting on April 11, 1933. Dr.
Robert E. Speer, senior secretary of the Board, was
invited to be present in April for the argument of
the overture, since he represented the most elo-
quent advocate of the optimistic view regarding
the state of the Board.

The overture asked the Assembly to elect to
positions on the Board of Foreign Missions only
those who accepted the Word of God and the
Standards of the Church, including the five
doctrines declared essential to Christianity in the
declaration of the Assembly of 1923.

Dr. Machen's 110-page booklet. Modernism
and the Board of Foreign Missions, supporting the
overture, documented his evidence and attacked

Pearl Buck who had fully endorsed Re-Thinking
Missions. Many, including Dr. Machen, had lost
confidence in the Board, believing it was not
preaching a clear-cut Gospel.

Dr. Machen contended in his booklet that the
policies of the Board of Foreign Missions had be-
come so vitiated by modernism as to call for re-
form. This charge was proved in such a way as to
be convincing to all intelligent and fair-minded
men. The documented evidence began with the
attitude of the Board of Foreign Missions toward
the book, Re-Thinking Missions, the unbelief of
Pearl S. Buck, the positions on the Board of Au-
burn Affirmationists, the modernist propaganda
carried on by the Candidate Department, the
agencies with which the Board co-operated, and
concluded with evidence of modernism in China.
The evidence was cumulative and overwhelming.

Before the meeting of Presbytery, this evidence
was sent to the members of the Presbytery, to the
members and secretaries of the Foreign Board, and
to the Rev. Daniel Johnson Fleming, Ph.D., D.D.,
of the Presbvterv of New York. Dr. Fleming was
author of one of the study books recommended to
young people preparing for foreign service, a
tvpically modernist book which was exposed by
Dr. Machen in his brief.

Dr. Speer accepted the invitation of the
Presbytery of New Brunswick to be present and to
take part in the debate in Trenton, N. J.

Historic Debate

For the first time the outstanding militant con-
servative scholar. Dr. J. Gresham Machen, stood
on the same platform with the foremost repre-
sentative of religious pacifism. Dr. Robert E. Speer,
to discuss the missionary policies of the Board.

Dr. Speer, a leader of wide administrative ex-
perience for 40 years, was one of the most dis-
tinguished, eloquent and popular representatives
of the middle-of-the-road policy. In 1930, his book,
So7ne Living Issues, set forth in comprehensive
form his position with regard to the issues of the
day. In a day of uncertainty and transition. Dr.
Speer was a mediator of issues. In 1932, he had
signed a report of the Committee on Co-operation
in Latin America which mentioned among "the
outstanding accomplishments of the Book De-
partment" the securing of the publication in
Spanish of "several books by Dr. Harry Emerson
Fosdick and other American authors" although
the divergence of Dr. Fosdick's teaching from the

Bible and from the Presbyterian Standards was
well known. Dr. Speer stood for an evasive policy.
He did not desire to engage in any controversy.

New Brunswick Presbytery was dominated by
professors of Princeton Seminary, signers of the
Auburn Affirmation, and opponents of the cause
Machen represented. Dr. Speer was in the
presence of friends and supporters.

The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Trenton, N.
J., where the debate was held, was crowded with
ministers, laymen from several Eastern states, pro-
fessors, and students from Princeton, and some
from Westminster. Dr. Machen appealed to the
Bible and completely captured the attention of
the audience with an eloquence born of deep
moral earnestness. He presented facts and evi-
dence that could not be denied. He wanted
honesty in the missionary policy of the Presbyte-
rian Church. Dr. Speer had a weak case in de-
fense of the Board and failed to reply to Dr.
Machen's specified charges. He constantly ap-
pealed to the past decisions of the General Assem-
blv. In order not to be drawn into controversy, he
read a statement of facts and principles which he
had previously prepared. A motion of confidence
in the Board was put and carried. Three commis-
sioners asked that their vote of dissent be re-
corded. The Presbytery of New Brunswick over-
whelminglv rejected the overture.

But the Presbytery of Philadelphia, the oldest
Presbytery in the Church, passed the resolution re-
jected bv the Presbvtery of New Brunswick and
presented it to the General Assembly in 1933 in
Columbus, Ohio. Other presbyteries passed
similar overtures. These overtures were referred
by the General Assembly to the Standing Com-
mitte on Foreign Missions which recommended no
action on any of them. The Committee of 45 mem-
bers dismissed the overture and affirmed full
confidence in the Board of Foreign Missions. The
Assemblv also received three overtures express-
ing confidence in the Foreign Board.

The Standing Committee on Foreign Missions
had among its members one member of the
appraisal commission that produced Re-Thinking
Missions, and one member of the committee that
wrote the Auburn Affirmation. It was logical that
these two agreed with the majority report. The
Affirmationists approved the Foreign Board.

The minority report of the Foreign Mission
Committee declared that the Board in appealing to
both Bible-believing Christians and modernists for
funds had been guilty of conduct that was "ethi-
cally indefensible and unworthy of a great church

that bears the sacred name of Christ." The minority
was not allowed to print its report and dis-
tribute it. There was no discussion of these reports
on the floor of the Assembly. The 1933 Assembly
did nothing to remedy the eyils in the Church that
cried for reform. Instead, the Assembly yoted that
the work of the Board of Foreign Missions "de-
serves the whole-hearted, unequivocal, enthusi-
astic and affectionate commendation of the church
at large."

Communications from Dr. Albert B. Dodd,
veteran fundamental missionary of the Board of
Foreign Missions, and from the late Chancellor
Arie Kok of the Netherlands Legation in Peiping,
gave abundant evidence to Dr. Machen's last
charge that the Foreign Board co-operated with
union enterprises in China which were implicated
in anti-Christian activities.

The Board of Foreign Missions supported with
its missionary' funds the inclusive Church of Christ
in China, the National Christian Council in China,
the Christian Literature Society, Yenching Uni-
versity, and the North China Union Language
School. The National Christian Council of China,
co-operating with the Y.M.C.A., sponsored an
"evangelistic" campaign by Dr. Sherwood Eddy,
modernist, advocate of birth control, and a
socialist. Missionary institutions placed their
students under his influence. The Christian Litera-
ture Society included modernistic books among
those published with funds from the Board. Chan-
cellor Kok gave evidence based on more than 20
years of observation and personal knowledge of
the "inclusive policy" in China where modernistic
missionaries were sent to the field on the same
footing as conservative missionaries. Although
conservatives were in the majority, militant mod-
ernists, working in strategic places, were having
a marked effect both on conservatives and on
the churches. All missionaries spent their first
year of language study in the deadening atmos-
phere of a modernistic Union Language School.
Modernist missionaries preached and propagated
liberalism in Chinese churches. And Chinese
evangelists were trained in union institutions with
modernists on the staff.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian
Foreign Missions

"In view of the action of the General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. resisting
the movement for reform of the Board of Foreign

Missions, a new Board will be organized by Bible-
believing Christians to promote truly Biblical and
truly Presbyterian work."

These words, pronounced at the close of the
1933 General Assembly, meeting in Columbus,
Ohio, heralded the formation of The Independent
Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. Presbyte-
rians who could no longer conscientiously support
the official Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions
because of its modernism were the founders of this
Board. There had developed within the Church
a very widespread lack of faith in the doctrinal
integrity of some of the members of the Board of
Foreign Missions, as evidenced by the well-known
Pearl Buck case, and the presence on the field of
others supported by that Board who had not
hesitated to declare their unbelief in the full
integrity of the Holy Scriptures. The situation had
developed to such an extent that it had to be
remedied if Presbyterian missions were to con-
tinue to command the financial support of evan-
gelical Presbyterians, and be true to the Word of
God, and obey the commands of Christ. Man\' had
withdrawn their contributions from the official
Board long before the Independent Board was
ever conceived. The new Board was constituted
to provide an agency to which sincere Christians
holding to the Reformed Faith could give their
missionary contributions, knowing that those con-
tributions would be used to preach the Gospel.

The organization of The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions was necessary. The
only way to have made it unnecessary would have
been for the Church as a church to declare her
position, to enforce her Standards, and to return to
the faith which she was leaving. Efforts were made
to that end, but all failed.

The reorganization of Princeton Seminary
according to the inclusive policy affected the
missionary program of the Church and the type of
missionaries who were being trained. The organi-
zation of The Independent Board for Presbyterian
Foreign Missions was the first determined effort
in Presbyterian circles to stop the avalanche of
unbelief that was descending upon Presbyterian
missions which, for 160 years previous to that
time, had had an overwhelmingly Christian testi-
mony in almost every part of the world. The
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign
Missions was born in one of the greatest the-
ological crises that the Christian world has ex-
perienced since the sixteenth century Reformation.
When the General Assembly of 1933 pronounced
its own Foreign Board worthy of full confidence

and trust, in spite of proved liberalism, Dr. Machen
and his associates turned aside from the control
that the denomination had over the agencies of
the Church and seminaries, all of which had
been brought into conformity with the inclusive
pattern of the Church, and he said, "A new era has
begun," and started the independent agency.
There was nothing left to do but to form a new
foreign board, a new agency independent of
ecclesiastical control and outside of the Presbyte-
rian Church, U.S.A., to which Bible-believing
Christians could give their gifts, knowing that the
true Reformed Faith which they loved would be
maintained. Thus, in necessity and wisdom, the
Independent Board of Presbyterian Foreign Mis-
sions was bom.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions was organized June 27, 1933, in
Philadelphia, Pa., and incorporated under the
laws of Pennsvlvania in Tanuarv, 1934. Its charter
keeps it free and independent of all ecclesiastical
control. This truly Presbyterian board is com-
mitted to "Truly Biblical Missions," a distinctive
phrase signifying that the board is Biblical in
theological belief and in methods of work upon
the field.

The Mandate of 1934

Immediately, the constitutionality of the new
board was challenged by the General Council of
the Presbvterian Church in the U.S.A. which pre-
pared "Studies of the Constitution" and intro-
duced it, together with a "Mandate," in its report
to the 1934 Assembly. The "Studies of the Con-
stitution" was a lengthy report occupying 46 pages
in the minutes of the Assembly (pp. 69-116). The
introduction quoted from the Form of Government
one of the duties of the General Council which
was "to consider between annual meetings of the
General Assembly cases of serious embarrassment
or emergency concerning the benevolent and
missionary work of the Church and to provide di-
rect methods of relief." The "Studies" also re-
viewed the history of missionary operations at
various stages of the Church's development with
a summary at the end of each stage. The final
conclusion was that it was impossible for any
independent agency or board to carry on mis-
sionary operations within, the Presbyterian Church.
The "Studies of the Constitution" interpreted the
constitution of the Church in such a way as to
change the form of government from a democratic

government to a tight and centralized form of
government.

Excerpts From the "Studies of
the Constitution"

"The svTiods, presbyteries and churches of
the denomination can sustain and countenance
only such missionary agencies within their re-
spective areas as the General Assemblv author-
izes and designates under the Constitution of
the Church" (Minutes, p. 96).

"It is, therefore, obligatory upon all churches,
presbyteries, and synods to employ these
Boards that are sanctioned and under the con-
trol of the General Assembly as their agents in
the prosecution of their missionary work" (p.
98).

"A church member or an individual church
that wiU not give to promote the officially
authorized missionary program of the Presby-
terian Church is in exactly the same position with
reference to the Constitution of the Church as
a church member or an individual church that
would refuse to take part in the celebration of
the Lord's Supper or any other of the prescribed
ordinances of the denomination as set forth in
Chapter VII of the Form of Government" (p.
110).
The Independent Board was charged with di-
verting funds from the official Board of the
General Assemblv, when, as a matter of fact, it
recei\'ed funds which never would have reached
the official Board. The Independent Board made
no appeal for funds, but relied entirely in faith
upon the support of Christian people in sympathy
with the Board's objectives.

As a result, the Cleveland Assembly of 1934
performed a double action; it emphatically re-
affirmed its confidence in the official Board of
Foreign Missions, especially in Dr. Robert E.
Speer, the secretary, and it issued the "Mandate."
The "Mandate of 1934" was the concluding
section of the "Studies of the Constitution" and
was composed of the actions recommended by the
General Council wdth reference to The Independ-
ent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. The
"Mandate," addressed to the members of The In-
dependent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Mis-
sions and to the churches, ordered the members of
the board to resign within 90 days, and, if they re-
fused to resign from the board, their presbyteries
were to institute trials, judicial trials. They were

to be disciplined as "disorderly and disloyal" for
disobeying the General Assembly. The Mandate
declared that church members were under the
same obligation to support the officially approved
denominational program of missions as they were
to take the Communion and obey the command-
ments of Christ. Excepts from the "Mandate of
1934" follow:

Excerpts From the Mandate of 1934

"Therefore, when the General Assembly, in
accordance with specific provisions of the Con-
stitution of the Church which empower it so to
do, declares that it is the purpose of the Presbyte-
rian Church to secure the proclamation of the
Gospel in a prescribed way, by means of the
Boards and Agencies, which are created, con-
trolled and maintained by it, then it is the definite
obligation and the sacred duty of each individual
who is affiliated with any of its churches or
judicatories to support those Boards and Agencies
to the utmost of his ability" (pp. 113, 114).

"In view of the principles herein set forth, the
General Assembly would issue the following di-
rections to its officers and judicatories:

1. That "The Independent Board of Presbyte-
rian Foreign Missions" be and is hereby directed
to desist forthwith from exercising any ecclesias-
tical or administrative functions, including the
soliciting of funds, within the Synods, the
Presbyteries, the particular churches and the
mission stations of the Presbyterian Church in
the United States of America.

2. That all ministers and laymen affiliated with
the Presbyterian Church in the United States
of America, who are officers, trustees or mem-
bers of "The Independent Board of Presbyterian
Foreign Missions," be officially notified by this
General Assembly through its Stated Clerk,
that they must immediately upon receipt of
such notification sever their connection with
this Board, and that refusal to do so and a con-
tinuance of their relationship to the said In-
dependent Board for Presbyterian Foreign
Missions, exercising ecclesiastical and admin-
istrative functions in contravention of the
authority of the General Assembly, will be con-
sidered a disorderly and disloyal act on their
part and subject them to the discipline of the
Church.

3. That Presbyterians having in their member-
ship ministers or laymen who are officers, trus-
tees or members of "The Independent Board for

Presbyterian Foreign Missions," be officially
notified and directed by this General Assembly
through its Stated Clerk to ascertain from said
ministers and laymen within ninety days of the
receipt of such notice as to whether they have
complied with the above direction of the Gen-
eral Assembly, and in case of refusal, failure to
respond or non-compliance on the part of these
persons, to institute, or cause to be instituted,
promptly such disciplinary action as is set forth
in the Book of Discipline.

4. That each Presbytery be and hereby is in-
structed to inform the ministers and sessions of
the particular churches under its jurisdiction
that it is the primary responsibility and privilege
of all those affiliated with the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America to
sustain to the full measure of their ability those
Boards and Agencies which the General Assem-
bly under its Constitutional authority has estab-
lished and approved for the extension of the
Kingdom of Christ at home and abroad (pp.
115, 116).
Dr. Machen and the members of the Independ-
ent Board declared that the Mandate of the
General Assembly was neither in accordance with
the constitution of the Presbyterian Church nor
with the Word of God. Furthermore, the Man-
date violated the whole Protestant character of
the Church by placing the word of man, in the
order of the General Assembly, above the Word
of God, which commands a Christian to obey
Christ and His Word. The members of the Inde-
pendent Board were attempting to obey the com-
mand of Christ to send the true Gospel into all the
world. They asserted that their membership on
the Board did not conflict with church law. "The
action of the General Assembly, involving as it
does, the substitution of human authority for the
Word of God, is contrary to the express provisions
of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., and the entire
tenor of that Constitution from beginning to end."
"To obey the so-called 'mandate' of the 1934
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in
the U.S.A. would be equivalent to obeying men
rather than God. It would be obeying human
councils acting contrary to the Bible."

This conclusion of the members of the Inde-
pendent Board was based on Section 7 of Chapter
I of the "Form of Government," which states:
"That all church power, whether exercised by the
body in general or in the way of representation by
delegated authority, is only ministerial and de-
clarative; this is to say, that the Holy Scriptures

are the only rule of faith and manners; that no
church judicatory ought to pretend to make laws
to bind the conscience in virtue of their own
authority; and that all their decisions should be
founded upon the revealed will of God. "

Support of boards and agencies down through
the ages of history had always been voluntary.
Presbyterian ministers had served and still serve
on advisory councils of other independent mis-
sion agencies, in full exercise of their freedom.
The organizers of the Independent Board did not
violate the law of the Church. Nothing in the
constitution forbade the organization of another
mission agency within the Church. But the Church
leaders became tyrannical. The constitution of the
Church was reinterpreted and changed.

To Dr. Machen and his associates, the Mandate
was not constitutional and therefore not binding.
They considered the Mandate to be a mere de-
liverance of a casual majority at the General As-
sembly meeting in a legislative capacity. This
was the attitude taken by the signers of the Au-
burn Affirmation toward the doctrinal deliver-
ances of the General Assemblies of 1910, 1916,
and 1923. And they said as much in the Auburn
Affirmation of 1924, that the General Assembly
could not determine for them what were "essen-
tial" Presbyterian doctrines. But these same
Affirmationists, without obtaining the required
approval of the presbyteries and upon the recom-
mendation of the General Council, attempted to
bind the consciences of faithful ministers in the
discharge of Christ's last command.

The issue at stake centered upon the authority
of the Bible versus the authority of the General
Assembly and the freedom and liberty of the
consciences of Christ's ministers. The issue was
whether to obey the Word of God and the com-
mandments which forbid a man to support another
Gospel, even if an angel preached it (Gal. 1:8), or
to obey the authority of an earthly ecclesiastical
power. The decision to obey or not to obey the
Mandate involved a great Protestant principle—
that only the Bible itself, God's Word, is to bind
the consciences of those for whom Christ shed
His blood.

The men on the Independent Board refused to
resign from the Board, declaring they must obey
God rather than men. They felt that they were
more truly Presbyterian than those who were pros-
ecuting them. No true Christian could place the
order of a church above the commands of Jesus
Christ. Faithful pastors could not support a mis-
sion agency which they knew to be unfaithful to

the Gospel and cease to support the Independent
Board which they knew was true to the Gospel.
No church has the power, though it may presume
to exercise it, to place its commands above the
commands of God's Word.

The members of the Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions believed that it was
no sin to belong to that Board. Resolved to obey
God rather than men, they stood by their intention.
Ecclesiastical persecution and discipline followed.
They were brought to trial. The eyes of the Chris-
tian public were centered upon the trials which
continued until June, 1936, when the General
Assembly ordered eight of the Independent
Board members suspended from the ministry of
the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. for their
refusal to obey its Mandate.

In 1893, a famous professor was suspended
from the ministry of the Presbyterian Church for
denying the inerrancy of God's Word. Only 40
years later, in 1934, faithful ministers of the Word,
anxious to uphold the truth of the Scriptures, were
ordered to desist from their efforts to send the
Gospel to the lost.

The same year that the Assembly ordered the
members of The Independent Board for Presbyte-
rian Foreign Missions to resign and to support
only the Board approved by the Assembly, and
in the same month that the various members were
notified of the so-called "Mandate, " two Presby-
terian missionaries in China were openly espous-
ing the Communist cause. An editorial in the
Chinese Recorder (published in Shanghai) for
June, 1934, headed, "Beyond Communism, " stated,
"Communism attempts to meet the secular needs
of the masses in a fair and essentially Christian
way." This was the view reflected by missionary
members of the editorial board who were sup-
ported in full by the official Board of Foreign
Missions. And Dr. L. C. Wu of Yenching Uni-
versity, with 13 Presbyterian missionaries on the
staff, was saying that Jesus favored the abolishing
of private property, and that He was opposed to
the family system. In 1934 all Presbyterian min-
isters were ordered to support these doctrines and
to desist from independently sending faithful mis-
sionaries all over the world!

Form of Government Changed

There was no foundation in the Church's con-
stitution for the issuance of the Mandate of 1934.
It was only possible to issue the Mandate because
the form of government of the Presbyterian

Church in the U.S.A. had been changed before
1934.

In 1923, when the doctrinal dispute was in-
creasing in intensity, an attack was hiunched
upon the form of government. The General Assem-
bly of 1923 changed the form of government from
a true democracy to a bureaucracy, which be-
came an ecclesiastical machine. The democratic
notion of government by the entire membership
underlies Presbyterian government. The Presby-
tery, the officers, and commissioners to the Gen-
eral Assembly are servants of the people, and the
people have a right to know what its servants plan
to do. Measures proposed to the General Assembly
should be discussed by the church at large. In
1923, the General Assembly changed in such a
way that the real business of the Church could
be conducted in committee rooms or around
board tables and the people had little real power.
A spirit of concealment began to show itself.
Secrecy and the discouragement of open and free
discussion at the General Assembly were the
methods used for the destruction of Presbyterian
liberties and of the evangelical witness of the Pres-
byterian churches. Ecclesiastical expediency and
tyranny became increasingly dominant in the
Church.

The General Assembly of 1922 had sent down
six overtures to the presbyteries for their approval,
and appointed a "Special Committee on the Re-
organization and Consolidation of the Boards and
Agencies of the Church." This committee was to
report to the Assembly of 1923. Under the plan
for reorganization, the stated clerk was to become
the executive head of the Church; several com-
mittees became departments; all boards and
agencies were consolidated under four boards.
Beginning with the General Assembly itself, five
departments were consolidated into the office of
the General Assembly under the control and super-
vision of the stated clerk. The clerk was given
control of press releases and could prevent the
publication of any reports in any papers except
those favored by the ecclesiastical machinery.
The Committee on Vacancy and Supply became
the Department of Vacancy and Supply with
power to control all the pulpits in the Church.
The Committee on Co-operation and Church
Union became the Department on Co-operation
and Church Union.

The Board of National Missions consolidated
six boards under its control, including the Board
of Publications. The Board of Foreign Missions
brought under its control the Women's Board of

Foreign Missions, which in 1921 had incorporated
six agencies within its framework. The Board of
Christian Education effected the consolidation
and administrative functions of six agencies. The
purpose of this reorganization was "to take charge
of management of funds." By the time of the 1923
Assembly, most of the boards were ready to work
as reorganized.

The 1923 Assembly also established the Gen-
eral Council, a powerful agency of centralization
and a serious menace to ancient liberties. This
Council, working through the General Assembly,
without debate sent down overtures whose effect
was to tighten the control of the central ecclesi-
astical machine. It won the General Council that
originated the action against the Independent
Board by recommending the Mandate of 1934 in
its report.

In 1931 the General Assembly sent down to
the Presbyteries an entirely new Book of Disci-
pline prepared by the stated clerk. The new Book
of Discipline made it possible for the ecclesiastical
machine to do many things not in accord with the
time-honored principles of Presbyterian govern-
ment. Such changes were not in accord with a
thoroughly representative form of government.
The new Book of Discipline expressly provided
that "in all cases of judicial proceedings the
judicatory shall sit with closed doors . . ." Under
the old Book of Discipline, a judicatory nmij sit
with closed doors by a two-thirds vote. But the
new book made the closed-door policy mandatory
even where the most elemental consideration of
fair play demanded that open court should be
held, and even when the accused person is con-
vinced that by being deprived of an open trial he
is being deprived of an inalienable right. The
abolition of open court was most unfair and put
the plain man in the church at the mercy of the
men who controlled the ecclesiastical machinery.
There was no hearing for the plain man. In ad-
dition, the accused was given a limited choice of
counsel.

The tendency to check open discussion was
operative in the destruction of old Princeton, the
last important stronghold of a genuine and
vigorous evangelicalism among theological sem-
inaries controlled by the Church, so that there
was not fair play for the rank and file of men. No
fair hearing was granted to those against the
Princeton reorganization. As the Assembly in-
itiated judicial proceedings against the members
of The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-

eign Missions, this tendency became more and
more apparent.

In 1931, the General Assembly entirely re-
constituted the Permanent Judicial Commission
with largely increased powers. This commission
became practically the supreme doctrinal as well
as the disciplinary authority of the Church. It
is in the Judicial Commission that secrecy is most
clearly opposed both to the general principle of
ethics and to the whole spirit of the New Testa-
ment. As constituted in 1931, the Judicial Com-
mission gave no assurance that a real believer in
the Bible and in the Confession of Faith would re-
ceive a sympathetic hearing from a majority of the
commission. The Judicial Commission consisted of
15 members— eight ministers and seven elders. Of
the eight ministers elected to the commission, four
were signers of the Auburn Affirmation, including
the secretary of the committee that issued the
Affirmation. (Elders were not invited to sign the
Affirmation.) These four signers had already ex-
pressed themselves upon the most important
questions that had come or were likely to come
before the Judicial Commission upon which they
sat, and expressed themselves in a way derogatory
to the central verities of the Christian faith. This
was the same as a "packed jury" for judicial cases
involving doctrine.

In 1928, a petition was presented to the
General Assembly which defended the virgin birth
of Jesus Christ, signed by 1,700 ministers and more
than 4,000 elders. Not one of the 1,700 ministers
was placed on the Permanent Judicial Commission.

Other boards and agencies were constituted in
the same way. Two of the three ministers elected
as members of the Board of Foreign Missions were
Affirmationists. Seven out of 16 members on the
Board of National Missions were Affirmationists.

By 1932, all the machinery of the Church was
dominated by a modernist-indifferentist tendency
in striking contradiction to the Bible and to the
Church's Confession of Faith. A supermachine, the
great arbiter of position, place, and income, had
been substituted for the purest form of govern-
ment. Overtures, innocent in appearance, were
introduced through measures designed to control
every pulpit in the Church. True Presbyterian
liberties were taken away. One change effected
did away with the office of "local evangelist " and
substituted the order of "missioners." This was a
change in the fundamental laws of the Church.
Presbyteries are composed of presbyters with
equality or parity of dignity and function. Min-
isters share in the government of the Church upon

an equal basis with each other and with the ruling
elders. The two sacraments of Christ are to be ad-
ministered only by ministers lawfully ordained.
"Missioners," a new order, were given a right that
in a well-ordered Presbyterianism is reserved for
the minister alone. The unordained "missioner"
was given a share in the government of the Church.

In 1933, the new Book of Discipline came be-
fore the presbyteries from the General Assembly
of 1933. The tendency was toward a more cen-
tralized government, and the control of the
Church was taken from the presbyteries and
synods to the General Assembly.

The 1933 Assemblv attacked two fundamental
Presbyterian papers and made radical changes in
their organizational setup. There was proposed a
consolidation of church papers so as to have not
more than two papers which would be made vital
and adequate, and subsidized by the Assembly.
All church papers were to be controlled by the
church machinery. Under such a regime it was
most difficult to get a hearing for the evangelical
party. The policy of the church organization as a
whole was made exactly that which would effec-
tively serve the cause of unbelief in all of the
churches. This policy was the discouragement of
controversy, tolerance of anti-Christian propa-
ganda, bitter intolerance of any effort to make the
true conditions of the church known, emphasis on
organization at the expense of doctrine, neglect of
the deep things of the Word of God.

1935 -YEAR OF TRIALS

"And judgment is turned away backward, and
justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the
street, and cquittf cannot enter" (Isa. 59:14).

The ecclesiastical trials of the members of the
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Mis-
sions revealed a tyrannical policy and the use of
secrecy as a method in church government. Solemn
constitutional guarantees were treated as though
they meant nothing. Bureaucracy was substituted
for democracy in Presbyterian church government.
The issue was fundamentally doctrinal; genuine
Christianity was at stake. The fundamentalists
were spoken of as "fundamentalists who discount
all the findings of science in the past 100 years
and whose theology is medieval," although their
only purpose was to maintain and defend the
Word of God and the constitution of the Presbyte-
rian Church.

The method of secrecy proceeded from mod-
ernism under a smoke screen of verbiage and an

attack focused on the particular grounds of the
Mandate of 1934. The Lordship of Jesus Christ
was attacked.

Not only were members of the Independent
Board under fire, but all ministers became in-
volved in an attempt to crush all Christian libertv.
The presbyteries attempted to set up such con-
ditions for entrance into the ministry that no real
minister of Jesus Christ could be received. The
Presbytery of New Brunswick, where Princeton
Theological Seminary is situated, resolved that
all who sought entrance into the presbytery bv
licensure, ordination, or transfer, should take a
pledge of allegiance to support the regularly
authorized Boards of the Church. This resolution
violated the constitution of the Church, for the
overture was not sent to all the presbvteries for
their decision, but was carried out in New Bruns-
wick Presbytery by its own individual and ar-
bitrary act. Such a pledge or vow would cause the
candidate to commit an offense to Jesus Christ,
constituting, as it did, a promise of blind allegiance
to human courts and councils.

Trials and Irregularities

In accordance with the Mandate of 1934, the
stated clerk of the General Assembly notified the
members of the Independent Board for Presbyte-
rian Foreign Missions that they must sever their
connection with said Board within ninety days or
be subject to the discipline of the Church. The
clerk also instructed the presbyteries to ascertain
whether or not these members, both ministers and
laymen, had complied. In case they refused to
resign from the Board, the presbyteries were to
institute prompt disciplinary action.

However, the Mandate was not so quickly nor
so simply implemented. Several of the presbyteries
involved considered the Mandate unconstitutional.
The Presbyteries of Chester, North Philadelphia,
and New York, in 1934, refused to prosecute the
Independent Board members. Also the Presbytery
of Philadelphia, the oldest and for many years
the most conservative presbytery in the Church,
did not institute proceedings against the Board
members in that presbytery. However, the Presby-
tery of New Brunswick assumed jurisdiction over
Dr. J. Gresham Machen and the Presbytery of
West Jersey charged the Rev. Carl Mclntire.

In November of 1934, the Presbytery of Olym-
pia, in the Synod of Washington, began pro-
ceedings against the Rev. Roy Talmage Brum-

baugh. Dr. Brumbaugh considered the Mandate a
proclamation only, and not a law of the church,
and saw no reason why he should resign from an
organization whose aim was to proclaim the
Gospel to the unsaved. From his viewpoint, had
he resigned in obedience to the order of the
Church, he would have been unfaithful to the
command of Christ to preach the Gospel in all the
world. The Presbytery of Olympia referred his
case to the General Assembly's Judicial Commis-
sion taking it out of the jurisdiction of the Presby-
terv. However, in January, 1935, the Presbytery
brought up the case again, an irregular and illegal
act. In July, 1935, the case was referred to the
special judicial commission of the Synod of Wash-
ington. In the meantime. Dr. Brumbaugh and his
church desired to continue their active, aggressive
ministry of soul-winning without harassment. On
August 20, 1935, the local church adopted a
resolution to withdraw from the Presbvterian
Church, U.S.A., for conscience's sake, and by
August 22 had formed the First Independent
Church of Tacoma, in a new location. The new
church retained it Presbyterian policy and pur-
posed to continue the true spiritual succession of
Presbyterianism in America. Four months later,
after he had voluntarily withdrawn from the
privileges and jurisdiction of the Presbyterian
Church, U.S.A., with most of his active flock, the
judicial commission of the Synod of Washington
decided to go through with a trial in absentia.
Dr. Brumbaugh was found guilty of disobedience.
The Presbytery declared him unfrocked and de-
posed.

The General Assembly of 1935, meeting in
Cincinnati, Ohio, received many overtures and
resolutions asking that the Mandate of 1934 be re-
scinded on the ground that the action was hasty
and unconstitutional. The General Assembly re-
fused to consider these petitions, but instead re-
affirmed the action of the 1934 Assembly relating
to The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions and upheld the Mandate, and at the
same time gave its full approval and endorsement
to its own official Foreign Board in spite of proven
liberalism.

There were renewed attempts to bring the For-
eign Board into conformity with the standards of
the Church. New evidence of liberalism had been
uncovered. Neither the Assembly nor the Board
had proved the criticisms invalid. Conservatives
within the Church felt that the action of the 1933
Assembly had been inadequate and that the
criticisms would continue until the Foreign Board

should prove itself loyal without qualification to
the doctrinal standards of the Church.

The censure of the 1934 Mandate directed
first at the members of the Independent Board
passed to the licensing of ministerial candidates.
Candidates to the ministry were asked concerning
their intention to give financial support to the
Independent Board, and if they proposed to
support the official Board of Foreign Missions at
this time. When the Presbytery of Chester licensed
two ministerial candidates in spite of the fact that
they did not promise blind allegiance to the Boards
of the Church, the complaint of the minority v/sls
upheld bv the Judicial Commission and the act of
ordination was called an act of insubordination to
the General Assembly.

Three members of the Independent Board
were elected bv their presbyteries to be commis-
sioners to the 1935 Assembly, but their enrollment
as members was protested on the ground that they
had not obeyed the 1934 Mandate. The Standing
Committee on Polity, after investigation, reported
that the Rev. Carl Mclntire and two others "openly
and unequivocally declared that they had not
complied with the directions of the 1934 General
Assembly as forwarded to them by the stated
clerk and which thev admitted receiving, and
that they are still members of The Independent
Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions." Upon
the recommendation of the committee, the three
Independent Board members were not enrolled,
although they enjoyed full fellowship in their
respective presbyteries which had not instituted
proceedings against them.

Machen's Reasons for "Disobedience"

The historic statement by Dr. J. Gresham
Machen in 1934, in answer to the preliminary in-
quiries made by the Presbytery of New Brunswick,
setting forth in simple terms the reason why he
could not obey the so-called Mandate of the 1934
General Assembly, is as follows:

Brief Statement of My Position
Having been ordered by the General Assem-
bly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. to
sever my connection with The Independent
Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions, I de-
sire to say, very respectfully:

I. I CANNOT OBEY THE ORDER.

A. Obedience to the order in the way de-
manded by the General Assembly would

involve support of a propaganda that is con-
trary to the Gospel of Christ.

B. Obedience to the order in the way de-
manded bv the General Assemblv would in-
voKe substitution of human authority for
the authority of the Word of God.

C. Obedience to the order in the wa\' de-
manded bv the General Assemblv would
mean acquiescence in the principle that
support of the benevolences of the Church is
not a matter of free will, but the payment of
a tax enforced by penalties.

D. All three of the above-mentioned courses
of conduct are forbidden by the Bible, and
therefore I cannot engage in any of them. I
cannot, no matter what any human authority
bids me do, support a propaganda that is con-
trarv to the gospel of Christ; I cannot sub-
stitute a human authority for the authority of
the Word of God; and I cannot regard support
of the benevolences of the Church as a tax
enforced by penalties, but must continue to
regard it as a matter of free-will and a thing
with regard to which a man is responsible to
God alone.

II. Though disobeying an order of the General
Assembly, I have a full right to remain in the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. because I
am in accord with the Constitution of that
Church and can appeal from the General As-
semblv to the Constitution.

Machen's Trial

On December 20, 1934, the Presbytery of New
Brunswick convened at Trenton and appointed a
Judicial Commission of seven men to try Machen
on a formidable list of charges which had in view
only a single alleged offense— disobedience to the
order of the General Assembly.

The trial itself took place at a series of sessions
during February and March, 1935. The accused
was denied the right of seeking to establish the
conviction that the order of an Assembly was con-
trary to the Word of Christ. No argument was
allowed concerning the Auburn Affirmation,
modernism in the Foreign Board, or the reorgan-
ization of Princeton Seminary. No opportunity of
defense was given to Dr. Machen. It was called
an "amazing trial"! He was pronounced "guilty"
on March 29, 1935, in an atmosphere of complete
tyranny.

From the Presbytery's verdict Dr. Machen

appealed to the Synod of New Jersey. The Special
Judicial Commission of the Synod of New Jersey
on March 20, 1936, handed down a decision on the
appeal of Dr. Machen, from his conviction by
the Presbytery of New Brunswick's Judicial Com-
mission. The chairman of the Commission was a
signer of the Auburn Affirmation. As expected,
the appeal was dismissed.

The Trial of the Rev. Carl Mclntire

Closely associated with the trial of Dr. Machen
was the trial of the Rev. Carl Mclntire, a former
pupil and stanch admirer of Machen 's faith, per-
sonality, and methods. He was among the students
from Princeton Seminary who left with Dr.
Machen to form Westminster Theological Sem-
inary in Philadelphia. Mr. Mclntire had studied
under Dr. Machen at Princeton in 1928-29 and
accompanied Dr. Machen when he established
an independent, separated seminary. The Rev.
Mr. Mclntire is a graduate of Westminster Sem-
inary.

After a short pastorate in Atlantic City, New

Jersey, Mr. Mclntire became pastor of the
CoUingswood Presbyterian Church on September
28, 1933. He was only 27 years of age when Dr.
Machen invited him to become a member of The
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Mis-
sions. He was elected to that Board on April 10,
1934. Therefore, Mr. Mclntire was included in the
Mandate of 1934.

Although the General Assembly of 1933 had
declared the official Board of Foreign Missions
worthy of confidence and support, that Board con-
tinued its modernistic work and testimony. The
Woman's Missionary Society of the CoUingswood
Presbyterian Church was one of the first women's
groups in the country to raise this question vdth
the Board. The women questioned whether they
could support the official Board because it was
recommending devotional literature which was
against the Word of God. In October, 1933, the
Woman's Missionary Society of the CoUingswood
Presbyterian Church, with the approval of the
session, wrote a letter to the Board of Foreign Mis-
sions in New York City pointing out evidences of
modernism in the mission study book. The Never

CoUingswood Presbyterian Church

Failing Light, written by James E. Franklin, for-
eign secretary of the American Baptist Foreign
Missionary Society, and endorsed, recommended,
and sold by the Board of Christian Education of
the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. The Society called
attention to flagrant, modernistic quotations from
the book.

When the Presbytery of West Jersey met on
January 15, 1935, the Rev. Carl Mclntire, pastor
of the Collingswood Presbyterian Church, pre-
sented an overture to the General Assembly con-
cerning modernism in the Board of Foreign Mis-
sions. He presented this evidence because he loved
the hundreds of missionaries who believed and
proclaimed the Word of God. The overture,
adopted bv the Presbytery of West Jersey, never
reached the General Assembly.

The evidence supporting the overture was
documented in a booklet and presented additional
evidence to that which Dr. Machen had pre-
sented in 1933. This documented evidence of
modernism as shown in the Board of Foreign Mis-
sions was under four charges : ( 1 ) modernism was
taught in the literature recommended by the
Board of Foreign Missions for devotional read-
ing; (2) union and co-operative work of the
Board was implicated in modernistic enterprises;
(3) missionaries under the Board of Foreign Mis-
sions were modernistic; and (4) members of the
Board of Foreign Missions who were elected by
the General Assembly were modernistic.

Dr. Robert E. Speer, senior secretarv of the
Board of Foreign Missions, answered the overture
in a memorandum which was in reality no answer
at all. Dr. Speer denied that any evidence of
modernism had been presented in the brief and
maintained a yes-and-no position. In defending the
Board, Dr. Speer hid behind the Assembly's
approval of 1933, attempted to obscure the facts,
and introduced and dwelt upon matters designed
to distract attention from the facts. Dr. Speer
flattered the Presbytery by declaring it to be "a
body of fair and just and open-minded men," but
when the Presbytery adopted the overture with
only one dissenting vote after the evidence was
presented, Dr. Speer attacked Mr. Mclntire openly.
He then admonished the brethren to be loyal to
that which the General Assemblv approved, for-
getting that true loyalty which men must have to
their Church is that loyalty to the great Head of
the Church, Jesus Christ, and to the Book upon
which the Church is built.

Dr. Speer objected to Mr. Mclntire's first
arguments to support his overture and prepared a

memprandum to deal with each of the sections of
the overture and with the specifications advanced
by Mr. Mclntire in support of each charge. Dr.
Speer claimed that the charges were not true and
the arguments advanced were inadequate, mis-
representative, and untrue.

The Rev. Carl Mclntire then further modified
and enlarged the previous documentation in a
larger booklet published April 11, 1935, entitled,
Dr. Robert E. Speer, The Board of Foreign Mis-
sions of the Presbi/terian Church in the U.S.A.
and Modernism." This reply was fuller and more
explicit and contained a fifth section calling upon
the Board to give to the laymen answers to the
evidence of modernism which had been found in
the Board.

The Presbytery of West Jersey adopted six
charges against Mr. Mclntire. They were: (1)
disapproval of the government and discipline of
the Church; (2) not being zealous and faithful in
maintaining the peace of the Church; (3) con-
tempt and rebellion against his brethren in the
Church; (4) conduct unbecoming a minister of
the Gospel; (5) advocating rebellion against the
constituted authorities of the Church; (6) viola-
tion of ordination vows. The Presbyter\- found Mr.
Mclntire guilty of charges 2 and 6; he was not
judged as to the first charge; he was found "not
guilty" of 3, 4, and 5. Presbytery reserved the right
to execute its sentence of suspension at anv time,
if, in its judgment, the honor of religion and the
peace of the Presbytery required it. This was
appealed. The Special Judicial Commission of the
Svnod of New Jersey announced to the press that
it upheld the judgment of the Presbvtery of West
Jersey suspending Mr. Mclntire from the ministry
and the Communion of the church. This decision
was appealed to the General Assembly, the court
of last resort.

No Presbyter)' had the courage to pass on the
constitutionality of the Mandate of 1934. The
defense said: "This seems more like 'Alice in Won-
derland' than anything in rational, real life."

The Special Judicial Commission of the Synod
of New Jersey heard the appeals in the Machen-
Mclntire cases. Mr. Mclntire had appealed his
conviction from the Presbytery of West Jersev and
Dr. Machen had appealed his conviction from the
Presbytery of New Brunswick. The Commission
affirmed both convictions. Both cases received the
verdict of suspension. Dr. Machen's appeal was
denied by Synod.

From the Synod of New Jersey, the Machen-
Mclntire cases appealed to the General Assembly.

Dr. J. Gresham Machen

Rev. Carl Mclntire

Machen's Overture

Mclntire's Overture

THE PROPOSED OVERTURE
The Presbytery of New Brunswick respectfully overtures
tfie Genera! Assembly of 1933,

1. To take care to elect to positions on the Board of

Foreign Missions only persons who are fully aware of
the danger in which the Church stands and who are
determined to insist upon such verities as the full
truthfulness of Scripture, the virgin birth of our Lord,
His substitutionary death as a sacrifice to satisfy
Divine justice. His bodily resurrection and His
miracles, as being essential to the Word of God and
our Standards and as being necessary to the message
which every missionary under our Church shall pro-
claim,

2. To instruct the Board of Foreign Missions that no one

who denies the absolute necessity of acceptance of
such verities by every candidate for the ministry can
possibly be regarded as competent to occupy the
position of Candidate Secretary,

3. To instruct the Board of Foreign Missions to take care

lest, by the wording of the application blanks for
information from candidates and from those who
are asked to express opinions about them, or in any
other way. the impression be produced that tolerance
of opposing views or ability to progress in spiritual
truth, or the like, is more important than an un-
swerving faithfulness in the proclamation of the
gospel as it is contained in the Word of God and an
utter unwillingness to make common cause with any
other gospel whether it goes under the name of Christ
or not,

4. To warn the Board of the great danger that lurks in

union enterprises at home as well as abroad, in view
of the widespread error in our day.

OVERTURE
The Presbytery of West Jersey respectfully overtures the
General Assembly of 1935,

1. To instruct the Board of Foreign Missions that all literature
published by or in the name of the Board be thoroughly
evangelical and loyal to the doctrinal standards of our
Church.

2. To instruct the Board of Foreign Missions to refuse to
sanction policies or to cooperate in union enterprises in
which the essential doctrinal teachings of the Christian
Faith, and of our Standards, such as, the full truthfullness
of Scripture, the virgin birth of our Lord, His substitutionary
death as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, His bodily
resurrection and His miracles, are not maintained.

3. To instruct the Board of Foreign Missions to take care to
send out as missionaries only those individuals who
believe the doctrinal teaching of our Church without mental
reservation, and to remove from the mission field any
missionaries under its control who have given up their
belief in the doctrinal teaching of our Church.

4. To take care to elect to positions on the Board of Foreign
Missions only persons who are fully aware of the danger
in which the Church stands and who are determined to
insist upon such verities as the full truthfulness of Scrip-
ture, the virgin birth of our Lord, His substitutionary death
as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice. His bodily resurrec-
tion and His miracles, as being essential to the Word of
God and our Standards and as being necessary to the
message which every missionary under our Church shall
proclaim.

5. To give to the laymen of our Church to whom our Church
appeals for funds answers to the evidence of modernism
in our Board of Foreign Missions which has been brought
forth.

The presbyteries began to oust pastors who
would not desist from "criticizing the Boards."
Four ministerial candidates were refused ordina-
tion because they would not pledge blind
allegiance to the church, even after the Permanent
Judicial Commission ruled that such a requirement
was unconstitutional. Other ministers were warned.
One pastor was disciplined because he had
helped to found and conduct an independent,
evangelistic summer camp and because he re-
fused to resign from the camp when ordered to
do so by the presbytery. When even the liberty
to express an opinion as to the faithfulness of the
church's agencies was taken away, the last vestige
of anv ordinary liberty was removed in the church.

Although a majoritv of the members of The
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Mis-
sions were members of the Philadelphia Presby-
tery, the Presbytery took no official action until
January, 1935, when it elected a Special Judicial
Commission to consider the cases. The Commis-
sion recommended judicial action to be taken
against the ministers in accordance with the
direction of the Assembly of 1934. The Presbytery
of Philadelphia did not, however, try the cases,
but adopted a resolution admitting that "in con-
sequence of the deep-seated factional spirit mani-
fest in Philadelphia Presbytery rendering a just
decision doubtful, and because the issue involved
one of great delicacy and importance to the whole
denomination, the trial of the cases in Philadel-
phia Presbytery would jeopardize the work of
Christ in the churches that would be involved."
Presbytery decided to remove the matter from
the jurisdiction of the Presbytery of Philadelphia
to that of the Synod of Pennsylvania. Svnod trans-
mitted the cases to the Pemianent Judicial Com-
mission and hearings began in November, 1935.
Two of the prosecutors were Auburn Affirmation-
ists.

The Permanent Judicial Commission of the
Synod of Pennsylvania, on January 14, 1936,
found five Independent Board members guiltv of
insubordination. These five were the Rev. Merrill
T. MacPherson, outstanding radio preacher and
pastor of the Central North Broad Street Presbvte-
rian Church in Philadelphia; the Rev. H. Mc-
Allister Griffiths, editor of The Presbyterian
Guardian, the Rev. Charles J. Woodbridge, former
missionary to Africa and at that time the general
secretary of the Independent Board for Presbyte-
rian Foreign Missions; the Rev. Edwin H. Rian,
field secretary of Westminster Theological Sem-
inary; and the Rev. Paul WooUey, professor at

Westminster Theological Seminarv. The all-Au-
burn Affirmationist trio of prosecutors objected to
the argument that the Mandate of 1934 was
unconstitutional on the grounds that a lower
judicatory, the Presbytery, cannot review the
decision of a higher, the General Assembly. In a
short and swift trial the five Independent Board
members were pronounced guilty. The verdict
was suspension from the ministry of Jesus Christ,
not to begin until affirmed by the General Assem-
blv sitting as a court.

In the meantime, Philadelphia Presbytery in-
structed the Holland Memorial Church in
Philadelphia to try two lay members of that
church. Since the lav members were not members
of Presbvten' but only members of a local church,
it fell to the local church to try them. The
judicatory sat in closed sessions. No information
was to be given to the public press or to any other
parties not entitled to sit in the session. The
defendants were threatened with penalties and
immediate discipline and possible suspension from
the Communion of the Presbyterian Church if
they disobeyed this order. They were deprived
of the right of an open hearing that is accorded
even criminals under civil law and were found
guiltv of disobedience of the order of the General
Assemblv and ordered to resign from the Inde-
pendent Board within 90 days. The penalty was
admonition. Ecclesiastical business was conducted
on a lower ethical plane than that which prevailed
in the world.

At the petition of the modernists and their
allies in the Presbytery of Chester and Philadel-
phia, the General Assembly of 1935 appointed a
Special Commission of nine to visit and investi-
gate the conditions prevalent in the two presby-
teries. In October, 1935, this Commission visited
Chester and Philadelphia Presbyteries, ostensibly
to attempt to compose the deep-seated doctrinal
differences which divided them, but which was
another step in the campaign to obliterate the
two Presbyteries whose usually consistent con-
servatism irked the church leaders. When the
members of the Independent Board attempted to
present their case to the Commission, shovdng
why there were doctrinal differences in the
Presbytery, they were not heard and the paper
which they had prepared was not read because
they refused to promise secrecy but wished to
testify openly. The defendants wished to point
out that the doctrinal issues ran deep into the very
core and substance of all thought and action and
that this difference was a part of the world-wide

conflict from which Philadelphia Presbytery could
not escape. The only remedy was to remove the
cause— to eliminate unbelief and modernism from
the church. But such was not possible. Philadel-
phia Presbytery, the oldest Presbytery in the
church and a stronghold of constitutional govern-
ment, needed to become a part of the ecclesiastical
machine which was already well-developed.

The report of the Commission was calculated to
destroy the century-long liberty of the oldest
Presbytery. The Commission overlooked the
serious doctrinal problem in the Presbytery and
reported "no evidence of modernism." They
further endorsed the ten Affirmationist members
and their place of leadership in the Presbytery; en-
joined secrecy as an over-all policy and suggested
that all accounts of sessions be kept out of the
public press under penalty of discipline; and
recommended changes in the standing rules of
Presbytery which would create a "Presbyterial
Council" patterned after the Assembly's General
Council and which would perform the important
functions of the business committee. The Affirma-
tionist chairman called all graduates of West-
minster Seminary "centers of division." They di-
rected Chester Presbytery to try the members of
the Independent Board in that Presbytery.

At a meeting on March 2, 1936, Philadelphia
Presbytery, formerly characterized by zeal for
sound doctrine, approved in principle the report
of the Special Commission. The tendency in the
church was toward government by small groups
in the Presbytery, in the Synod, and in the General
Assembly. These small groups had many extensive
powers.

A spirit of tyranny was manifested in the
suggestion of a new rule which stated that all in-
formation relating to the proceeedings of Presby-
terv would be given out only by the stated clerk
and by the creation of a new Committee on
Vacancy and Supply which was constituted in an
obvious effort to bring all vacant pulpits under
organizational control, a departure from Presby-
terian democratic principles.

Dr. Machen himself gave an analysis of the re-
port of the Assembly's Commission in five words.
He said, "What does the Report of the Commis-
sion, thus approved by the presbytery, really stand
for? .... Five ugly words give the answer. I do
not like to use ugly words, but ugly words must
be used to describe an ugly thing. Those ugly
words are Misrepresentation, Unbelief, Secrecy,
Tyranny, and Lawlessness." According to Dr.
Machen, the Commission created the general im-

pression that during its sessions it gave an ad-
equate hearing to all points of view, and did not
mention the fact that no member of the Independ-
ent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions was
heard. The Commission endorsed the unbelief of
the Affirmationists, which was itself unbelief. The
Commission stood for secrecy by seeking to de-
prive the rank and file of the church of their right
to know what its representatives in Presbytery do.
To deny the right of assembly and the right of
free speech constituted tyranny. Since the law
of the church has at the heart of it the principle of
representative government, the Commission's dis-
couragement of representative government con-
stituted lawlessness.

At the meeting on April 6, 1936, Philadelphia
Presbvtery, long a strong citadel of the faith, gave
evidence that it was at last dominated by the
modemist-indifferentist coalition in the church
by electing an outstanding modernist as moder-
ator. This was the first time that an Auburn
Affirmationist had been elected moderator of
Philadelphia Presbytery. At this meeting, the
Presbytery amended its standing rules based upon
the report of the Assembly's Commission of Nine.
However, the rule on publicity was not passed
and the motion to create the "Presbyterial Council"
was tabled. Moreover, the moderator ruled out of
order a proposed overture regarding modernism
in the Board of Christian Education similar to the
overture concerning the Foreign Board. The rule
"out of order" was a denial of constitutional rights.
The Presbytery also refused by a majority vote to
promise that in licensing and ordaining candi-
dates it would abide by the constitution. Instead,
the Presbytery further departed from constitu-
tional government by a decision to ask ministerial
candidates to pledge loyalty to official boards and
obedience to future Assembly deliverances. This
decision had already been taken in other presby-
teries. As far back as September, 1933, the Presby-
tery of New Brunswick, where Princeton Seminary
is located, placed in its "Manual" a provision that
all candidates who seek entrance into the Presby-
tery by licensure, ordination, or transfer, shall
support the regularly authorized boards and
agencies of the church. This blind pledge of
allegiance violated not only the constitution of the
church but committed the offense of substituting
the word of man for the Word of God. Under
such conditions, it became increasingly difficult
for any real minister to be received into the
Presbyterian Church.

Truth knows no comity with error.

MODERNISM IN OTHER BOARDS OF THE CHURCH

Although the full implication of the Mandate
of 1934 was not immediately apparent, the breadth
of its extent into all boards and agencies of the
church soon began to be felt. The terms of the
mandate were broad enough to include all boards
of the church since it required all ministers and
churches to support all boards and agencies of the
church. Judged by the mandate, the promoters of
Westminster Seminary were as guilty of not
supporting the program of the church as were the
organizers of the Independent Board for Presbyte-
rian Foreign Missions.

The Foreign Board was not the only board in-
volved in the support of modernism. The two other
great teaching boards of the church, the Board
of National Missions and the Board of Christian
Education, were perhaps even more implicated
than the Foreign Board.

The Board of National Missions

The Board of National Missions developed
practices similar to those of the Foreign Board and
evidenced equally undeniable proof of teaching
that was untrue to the Bible. Evidence that the
Board of National Missions favored modernism in
its policies and capitulated to modernism is shown
in the composition of the board itself, in the
literature approved by the board, in its co-opera-
tive enterprises, and in the "Manual for National
Missions Churches."

The board was composed of forty-nine mem-
bers, seventeen of whom were ministers. Seven of
the seventeen ministerial members of the Board
signed the Auburn Affirmation. These seven im-
portant modernists constituted almost a majority
of the ministerial members and occupied impor-
tant positions in the church. Dr. Henry Sloane
Coffin, president of Union Theological Seminary,
a liberal with un-Presbyterian views, was never-
theless a members of the Board of National Mis-
sions. His book. Some Christian Convictions,
showed anti-Christian convictions and contradic-
tions of the Westminister Confession and the
Bible. The general secretary of the board signed
the Affirmation before he was made general
secretary so that his views were well known. Other
outspoken modernists were members of the ad-
ministration staff of the board. All other members
of the board were guilty of tolerating this un-
belief without protest.

The literature approved by the board and
recommended to the churches, particularly that
dealing with evangehsm, was thoroughly mod-
ernistic. In 1934, Home Missions Today and To-
moiroiv was the report by a joint committee in a
five-year program of survey and adjustment to
Home Mission councils which included representa-
tives of different Protestant denominations and
recognized affiliates of the modernist Federal
Council of Churches. The unit of Evangelism, for
1936-37, recommended books by Henry Sloane
Coffin, George A. Buttrick, the Rev. J. Valdemar
Moldenhawer, all gifted modernists and all signers
of the Auburn Affirmation, and therefore unable
to stress the pure Gospel.

Important ministers with large churches were
members of the National Committee of the
Modern Missions Movement. One of these com-
mittee members, Dr. George A. Buttrick, minister
of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in
New York City, wi'ote a book. The Christian Fact
and Modern Doubt, which was recommended
reading b\' the Board of National Missions. This
book contained many contradictions and un-
Presbyterian views.

The 1932 General Assembly chose a commit-
tee from the Boards of National Missions and
Christian Education to devise standards of effi-
ciencv for National Missions churches to be com-
plied with if churches were to receive mission aid
monev. These standards were published in the
"Manual for National Missions Churches" which
was approved by the board in April, 1934. The
1934 General Assembly adopted the manual with
no debate and decreed that no minister of an aid-
receiving church could obtain aid unless his
church promised to comply with some thirty-eight
injunctions of the manual. The new manual sub-
stituted the word of man for the Word of God
when it compelled aid-receiving churches to
promise implicit support of shifting human pro-
grams, and also violated the constitution. The 1935
Assembly questioned the constitutionality and
practical effect of the manual and appointed a
committee to study the manual and to report back
to the General Assembly in 1936.

At the 1936 Assembly the majority report
approved the policies of the board in all things
and the secretaries delivered their prepared
eulogies of the board's work. The minority report
was given by a pastor who received aid from the
board but who nevertheless spoke with courage:
"I have greatly appreciated the aid and counsel
supplied by the Board in my ministry. . . .

Nevertheless, I look with alarm at the growing
centralization of power in the Board and the using
of this power to impose upon the church a mod-
ernistic educational or missionary program based
on the ability of man to bring in the Kingdom of
God b\' his showing and sharing the spirit of
Christ." He then pointed out evidences of this
charge with specific proofs from the literature,
comity arrangements, and personnel of the board
who were Auburn Affirmationists.

The true spiritual succession of the Presbyte-
rian Church, U.S.A., is the exact opposite of all
that was so solemnly legalized and declared in the
Syracuse Assembly.

The Board of Christian Education

The Board of Christian Education, like the
Boards of Foreign and National Missions, was so
organized as to render the spreading of mod-
ernism an inevitable consequence. Efforts to re-
form this board came from only a small portion
of the church. Deaf ears were turned to pleas for
reform. Those who showed zeal for the purity of
the church were condemned. There was sufficient
evidence to prove that the Board of Christian
Education was unfaithful to the standards of the
church.

The attitude of the Board of Christian Educa-
tion to the Auburn Affirmation, like that of
Princeton Seminary and the Foreign Board, was
one of endorsement. The 1934-35 report showed
that signers of the Auburn Affirmation partici-
pated in the work of the board in at least four
different ways: two were members of the board;
one was in charge of the Department of Colleges,
Theological Seminaries, and Training Schools; five
were field representatives; and ten were pastors
of local churches in university centers which co-
operated with the board in maintaining centers
of Christian influence for Presbyterian students.

The Board of Christian Education had as its
concern "to lead the Church into a deeper ex-
perience of Christian worship." It is in the realm of
Christian worship that Bible doctrine is most im-
portant because worship is the most religious of
man's activities. Even so, the entire program of
the board most clearly responsible for the worship
of the entire church became pervaded with dis-
loyalty to the Bible and to the historic witness of
the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. "Follow Me," a
daily devotional guide for young people, in the

December, 1935, issue presented "a new approach
to Christmas." This guide, recommended by the
board's staff, presented Jesus as human only, the
ideal for every life, and not as the divine Son of
God worthy of all worship.

Hymns and hymn singing constitute an im-
portant part of the worship of the people of God.
Next to the Bible, the hymnal is probably the
greatest factor in fonning the beliefs and assessing
the enthusiasm of Christian people. The new
hymnal published by the Board of Christian Ed-
ucation in 1933 stressed social service and elimi-
nated about four hundred hymns dealing with
Christian doctrine. The president of the Board of
Foreign Missions, a secretary of the same board,
and a member of the Laymen's Inquiry into For-
eign Missions helped to prepare the new hymnal.
There was a close connection between the Lay-
men's Inquiry, the Board of Foreign Missions, and
the new hymnal.

Books recommended by the board were liberal.
Devotional books for adults on prayer showed
mysticism and an attack on all that is distinctive
in historic Christianity. The board recommended
The Meaning of Praijer by Harry Emerson Fos-
dick, a prominent liberal. Without the redemptive
work of Christ, which modernists deny, man can
have no communion with God, or prayer. Mysti-
cism wipes out any clear distinction between God
and man; the life of the Spirit is presented as a
result of the evolution of the natural man, not the
result of a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.
These books were not a safe guide to worship. A
church whose General Assembly passed the Phil-
adelphia Overture of 1923, affirming belief in
Biblical doctrine, by 1936 supported a Board of
Christian Education which recommended Fos-
dick's books to its young people.

Literature for the home presented a pantheistic
and naturalistic concept of religion. Literature for
the Sunday school complimented man on what he
was and told him to live at his best.

The board gave financial aid to several Presby-
terian colleges which taught modernism in their
departments of religion. The money was not pro-
moting a truly Christian witness. Signers of the
Auburn Affirmation were on the boards of trus-
tees of colleges receiving aid from the board, and
the board co-operated with the pastors of churches
who were signers of the Affirmation.

The Department of Missionary Education
fostered the work of Home and Foreign Missions,
responsible to the Board of Christian Education.
The board was involved in propaganda for un-

belief through the textbooks of the Missionary
Education Movement which the board had helped
to prepare and publish. A recommended book,
So This Is Missions, in 1933, eradicated all dis-
tinction between saved and lost. The aim of mis-
sions was presented as a social revolution. The
Challenge of Change, in 1931, stated: "Christ's
gospel is the gospel of brotherliness among men.
It is the good news of a social order including all
men, separated now by whatever barriers, na-
tional, cultural, social, lingual, creedal, or class" (p.
64). Of fourteen books recommended, six were
examined and found to be written from the same
viewpoint. Not one gave the Bible imperative of
missions; none called on men to be saved.

Efforts to stop the increasing spread and
growth of modernism within the church were
made in 1930 and 1935, but proved ineffectual.

Presbyterian League of Faith

The Presbyterian League of Faith, organized
in 1930 as a countertestimony to the Auburn
Affirmation, was signed by 150 ministers of the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., including some
of the best known names in the church. Its purpose
was to maintain the system of doctrine of the
Westminster Confession and to oppose "all plans
of church union which would either break down
that system or relegate it to a secondary place."
The league aimed to be an effective instrument for
drawing all real conservatives in the church to-
gether for the maintenance of the faith.

However, it soon became evident that many
of the leaders proposed to fight from within the
denomination. In 1933, Dr. Clarence Edward
Macartney, pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church of Pittsburgh, once the champion of the
defenders of the faith, called upon the members of
his former charge in Philadelphia to remain in the
apostasy. His sermon bore the title, "Don't Give
Up the Ship!" He ended with the words of John
Paul Jones, "I have just begun to fight!" His thesis
at this time was that there had been no attempt on
the part of the denomination to change the creedal
confessional position of the church to a sub-
Biblical and sub-Christian level.

June 16, 1936, the League of Faith elected Dr.
Macartney as president. With him was the editor
of The Presbijterian who sat on the Judicial Com-
mission of the Synod of New Jersey and who
joined in the unanimous condemnation of J. Gres-
ham Machen and Carl Mclntire. They could only

stay in to fight at the expense of ignoring what
the Syracuse Assembly did to the Lordship of
Christ.

Presbyterian Constitutional Covenant Union

On June 27, 1935, in the midst of the com-
promise and tyranny of the visible organization of
the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., there was
organized the Presbyterian Constitutional Cov-
enant LTnion. It stated its purpose thus:

"The purpose of this Covenant Union shall be
to defend and maintain the Constitution of the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.— that is, to de-
fend (1) the Word of God upon which the Con-
stitution is based, (2) the full, glorious system of
revealed truth contained in the Confession of Faith
and Catechisms, commonly called the Reformed
Faith,' and (3) the truly Scriptural principles of
Presbyterian Church government guaranteeing the
Christian's freedom from implicit obedience to any
human councils and courts and recognizing in-
stead, in the high Biblical sense, the authority of
God."

In the covenant to which the members sub-
scribed the Union declared:

"We, the members of this Covenant Union,
are resolved, in accordance with God's Word, and
in humble reliance upon His grace, to maintain
the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A., (1) making every effort to bring about a
reform of the existing church organization, and to
restore the Church's clear and glorious Christian
testimony, which Modernism and indifferentism
have now so grievously silenced, but (2) if such
efforts fail and in particular if the tyrannical policy
of the present majority triumphs, holding ourselves
ready to perpetuate the true Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A., regardless of cost."

The Presbyterian Constitutional Covenant
LTnion had but one short year of existence. On
June 11, 1936, in Philadelphia, the Union formally
dissolved itself. Delegates had come from twenty-
four chapters. The dissolution was taken in accord-
ance with the intent of the pledge of the Cove-
nant Union to "perpetuate the true Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A., regardless of cost." All
efforts to reform the existing Presbyterian Church
had failed. The present majority of that church
had triumphed. The members of the Covenant
Union were declared free to carry on the true
spiritual succession of the Presbyterian Church,
U.S.A., in the manner they deemed best.

Independency

The existence of numerous independent
churches scattered throughout the country testi-
fies to a great loyalty to Jesus Christ as the only
Head of the Church. These independent churches
have been formed in protest against the modem
paganism dominant in most of the denominations.
Thev stand for the fundamentals of the faith and
are characterized by spiritual life and activity.

Independencv has advantages and dangers.
Two dangers connected with the creeds of inde-
pendent churches are most obvious; one relates to
the present condition of these churches' creedal
statements, the other relates to the probable future
status of those creeds. Independent churches usu-
ally adopt an abbreviated creed. The first danger
is the adoption of a creed that omits important
sections of the historic creeds and often includes
other material that never commended itself to the
great Reformers.

Independency also has its dangers in the form
of government adopted by independent churches.
When there is trouble in an independent church,
there is no appeal to anyone. There are no brethren
in the church of the fellowship who can come with
tender arms about the opposing parties and help
solve the difficulty. There must be constitutional
guarantees and prerogatives. The Presbyterian
form of government through representatives, with
constitutional guarantees, works better than any
other and has proved itself in the experience of
American Christianity to have lasted longer in
maintaining itself.

After experiences with corrupt ecclesiastical in-
quisitions, there comes the reaction to establish
churches independent of any ecclesiastical control.
This, at times, may be a good temporary device,
depending upon the formation of other congre-
gations and their unification into a great and
glorious church. But if independency is regarded
as a permanent insurance against the inroads of
modernism, it may be just another reliance on
human depravity instead of upon the arm of the
Lord.

At the time of the break with the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A., the presence of modernism in
the Presbyterian organization condemned the
whole Presbyterian idea in the minds of some
people as they considered the matter hastily. The
failure to deal effectively with the modernism in
the church was not the failure of the Presbyterian
form of government, but rather the failure of the
men who were in the Presbyterian Church to use

the form of government to oust and discipline the
unbelievers. The instrument was there, but the
men who should have used it did not do so. No
matter how good a form of government may be,
if the leaders ignore it or refuse to use it, lawless-
ness of the most serious order results.

No organization in itself is a permanent safe-
guard against modernism, but the Presbyterian
form of government has proved to be a powerful
deterrent.

1936

AUBURN AFFIRMATION VICTORIOUS

The Great Betrayal

Immediately preceding the General Assembly
of 1936, events began to occur with breath-taking
rapidity. The Presbyterian Church of Duryea
withdrew from the denomination in April, 1936,
due to modernism and tvrannv.

"A Testimony of Ruling Elders of the Presbyte-
rian Church in the U.S.A.," signed by 1,656 elders
from churches in 35 states recorded the convictions
of the subscribing ruling elders bearing upon cer-
tain trends in the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A. The signers vowed to adhere to their
creedal profession and earnestly oppose mod-
ernism in the church. The testimony pointed out
the errors in the Mandate of 1934. It came too
late.

In The Presbijterian Guardian of "May 18, 1936,
Dr. Machen published an article, "What Should
True Presbyterians Do at the 1936 General Assem-
bly?" addressed to commissioners to that Assembly
who represented the evangelical minority. After
warning the evangelical commissioners not to be
deceived, he advised all to pray, to read about the
issues, to speak about them, to bring in minority
reports, and to vote. After fulfilling these duties,
he asked them to "proceed to perpetuate the true
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. regardless of
cost."

The final decision in all cases was given June 1,
1936, when the Permanent Judicial Commission
of the General Assembly brought in its report
concerning the appeals from Presbyteries to
Synods to General Assembly. The issue in all
cases was the same: human councils with their
frailty and weakness vs. the Word of God, final
and infallible. Just as Luther before the papal
legate and the Diet of Worms refused to recant,

the issue was the same, whether to obey the
voice of the church or the voice of God speaking
in the Bible. In this decision, the organized church
was attempting to usurp the authority which be-
longed to God and to bind the conscience of men
by virtue of its own authority. The great doctrinal
issue was the same as that of the Reformation.

Auburn Affirmationists wielded a wide official
influence in the church, disproportionate to their
total number. Although only ten per cent of the
ministers of the Presbyterian Church signed the
Affirmation, that ten per cent was represented on
the church's most powerful body by fifty per cent
of the number of ministers who could be elected
to it. The moderatorship of the Judicial Commis-
sion was more powerful than any in the church
save that of stated clerk. Four of the acting
seven ministers on the Permanent Judicial Com-
mission were Affirmationists.

The cases heard by the Permanent Judicial
Commission prior to the meeting of the General
Assembly included the cases of the Rev. Carl Mc-
Intire and Dr. J. Gresham Machen from the Synod
of New Jersey, and five ministers from the Synod
of Pennsylvania. A secular newpaper reported:

Probably the most debatable subject to come
before the General Assembly in Syracuse will
be the appeal of Dr. J. Gresham Machen, foun-
der of Westminster Theological Seminary, Phil-
adelphia, Pa., erstwhile Princeton assistant pro-
fessor and champion of fundamental doctrines.

Presbyterian authorities claim that the
Machen case and allied cases are not doctrinal
but judicial cases. They contend that Dr.
Machen and his colleagues are not being dis-
ciplined for their beliefs but for refusal to obey
an order of the General Assembly.

Dr. Machen and his counsel, the Rev. H.
McAllister Griffiths, Philadelphia, Pa., editor of
The Presbyterian Guardian and general sec-
retary of the Presbyterian Constitutional Cov-
enant Union, contend in opposition that the
order of the General Assembly conflicts with
their beliefs and with the doctrines of the
Presbyterian Church. They argue that to obey
the order would be to place more importance
on the order of a group of men than on the
command of God.

The Great Betrayal took place on the morn-
ing of June 1, 1936, at which time the General
Assembly's Permanent Judicial Commission shat-
tered Protestant principles and led the General
Assembly into a new era. The foundations of the
church were shaken as the General Assembly in
the name of "constitutionalism" and "law" tram-
pled upon the supreme law of the church— God's
holy Word. The fundamentalists lost on every
point.

Two opposing views of the church were ex-
pressed. The Presbyterian view upheld constitu-
tional government, liberty of conscience under
Christ Jesus, the great Head of the Church, in

Last Meeting in Fern Avenue Coilingswood
Presbyterian Church-

^.f^**t

accordance with the Word of God. This idea
found full and clear expression in the constitution
of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The
opposing view considered the power of the church
absolute, denied the right to challenge a major-
ity, and held that the General Assembly was the
supreme court and final authority, not the Word of
God. This is the Roman Catholic argument.

The future course of a vast religious body was
determined as the report of the Judicial Commis-
sion was solemnly given. Case No. 1 concerned
the five ministers from Philadelphia connected
with the Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions. Case No. 2 dealt with the Rev.
Carl Mclntire. In the opinion of an eye-witness
and a participant, "At this point the Ghurch by
action of its highest court, in clear and unequivocal
language, took a position that dethroned the Lord
Jesus Ghrist as the onlv Head and King of His
Church." Case No. 3 pronounced judgment upon
the great champion of the faith, Dr. J. Gresham
Nhichen.

All convictions were solemnly affirmed.

The eyewitness reported of those convicted:
"When the convictions were affirmed, they simply
took it from His hand, thanking Him for His grace,
and knowing that He is able to make the wrath of
man to praise Him. And they knew from that hour
that they would have to continue their witness to
the full truth of God apart from a body that re-
jected it . . ."

The moderator said, banging his gavel, "The
case is ended . . ."

The penalty given to the members of the Inde-
pendent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions
was suspension from the ministry of the Presbyte-
rian Church and from the privilege of partaking of
the holy Communion. ( Minutes of the General As-

sembly, 1936, pp. 91-95. ) These judicial decisions
were made by the General Assembly in the name
"and by the authority" of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This constituted official judicial apostasy.

One of the most astounding actions of the
General Assembly of 1936 was taken on the last
day of its sessions when it refused to receive whole
protests which had been filed, and proceeded
further to edit other protests. One of the difficul-
ties in the long battle through presbyteries and
synods was the refusal to tolerate the minority's
right to enter its opinion upon the record. This
sacred right of protest was guaranteed in the
Book of Discipline, Chapter X, Section 3: "Every
member of the church has the right of access to
any church court by petition or memorial. He has
direct access to the session of the congregation to
which he belongs, but a petition or memorial to
a higher court must, in the first place, be pre-
sented to the session, with a request for its trans-

mission.

Never again has there been any concerted
effort to drive the modernist party from its seat of
power. Modernism grew for a generation accom-
panied by a centralizing process which trans-
formed the church from a great democratic body
to a tightly knit organization which could be con-
trolled by a few individuals. Modernism grew
hand in hand with the growth of centralization.

When the General Assembly of 1936, meeting
in Syracuse, N. Y., upheld the Mandate of 1934
and handed down the judicial decisions in the In-
dependent Board cases, the Assembly made the
most momentous decision in the history of the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The 1936
judgments were a part of the great process of
change which has continued into the present year
of 1966-1967.

FAITH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

The founders of the Bible Presbyterian Church
realized that the principal source of the apostasy
of many old-line denominations was the defection
of theological seminaries. In the summer of 1937,
men of God, led by Dr. Carl Mclntire, formed a
new seminary which should be honoring to the
Lord in its doctrine and position— a witness to the
faith once for all delivered to the saints, ever
exalting the infallible Word of God as the only rule
of faith and practice. God gave these men Faith,
and classes began that fall with twenty-six stu-

dents, all of whom were college graduates. Thus
was founded Faith Theological Seminary, an in-
stitution which seeks to combine the highest
scholarship with constant emphasis on vital spir-
itual life.

In 1953, when the Seminary found it necessary
to expand its facilities, God made it possible for
the famous Widener Estate, 920 Spring Avenue,
Elkins Park, on the northern outskirts of Philadel-
phia, Pennsylvania, to become the home of Faith
Theological Seminary. The buildings and grounds
are ideally suited for the needs of a theological
seminary.

Under the leadership of Dr. Allan A. MacRae,
recognized Old Testament scholar, and a con-
secrated faculty, students at Faith receive per-
sonal attention, as they are taught the Word of
God and as they carefully examine critical views
of the Scriptures— "that the man of God mav be
perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."

Faith Theological Seminary is independent and
not under the ecclesiastical control of anv denom-
ination. It presents the great system of doctrine
set forth in the historic Westminster Confession
of Faith and Catechisms. It is closely identified
with the American Council of Christian Churches
and the world-wide testimony of the Intemational
Council of Christian Churches.

rf^

Faith Seminary's Library
at Wilmington, Del.

Faith Theological Seminary
at Wilmington, Del.
September, 1941, to
May, 1952

THE EVER-DEEPENING

APOSTASY IN

"THE OLD CHURCH"

The complacent acceptance of the judicial de-
cisions of 1936 bv the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A. was at that time, and is still, a blot upon
the history of that church. Both the boards and
the church have followed a downward course
ever since. In the case of the Board of Foreign
Missions, it soon became very evident that that
board was complacent even toward idolatry in
Japan and in Korea. When Japan was determined
that all her subjects should worship the sun god-
dess, the Foreign Board ruled that every mission-
ary would have to work within the thought pat-
tern of anv country to which he might go.

The most important steps in the continuous
apostasv may be traced through the resolutions
passed by the Bible Presbyterian Church concern-
ing distinct trends and actions in the Presbyte-
rian Church, U.S.A., now the United Presbvte-
rian Church in the United States of America.

Resolution adopted by the 13th Synod in 1950:

Deepening Apostasy

The Thirteenth General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church in witness to the fact that
this church was declared to be at the time of its
constitution, and still is, the true spiritual succes-
sion of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., hereby
calls attention to the fact that the apostasy in the
Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., has, since our sep-
aration from that denomination, been progres-
sively deepened.

The action of the recent General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., in expressing its
willingness to unite with all and any other

churches, regardless of Presbyterian and Reformed
heritage or witness, constitutes an abandonment of
the Presbyterian faith and system of government.
The anti-Presbyterian and even anti-Protestant
propaganda which has been increasingly pre-
sented to the people has led a sufficient number
no longer to desire to be Presbyterian. The general
idea that denominations are sinful and that the
Presbyterian denomination itself is an affront to
the unity of the church are all a product of mod-
ernism and a departure from the demands of the
Scriptures.

The glory of Protestantism has been that men
have been free to maintain their separate witness
and also to separate when sin remains unjudged
and to preserve a true church.

We hereby call upon all Presbyterians in the
Northern Assembly who desire to remain Presby-
terian and to preserve our Presbyterian heritage
in the faith, to renounce this further abandonment
of the Presbyterian heritage and to come into the
Bible Presbyterian Church.

A letter of the 20th Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church, 1956:

To Our Christian Brethren in the United
Presbyterian Church

Beloved in the Lord:

We greet you in the name of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ and we delight in His grace,
mercy, and peace, given to us by His Holy Spirit.

The question of the union of the United
Presbyterian Church with the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A. which is now before you for

your consideration involves matters in w^hich we
are in a position to testify. Our Bible Presbyterian
Church, formed in 1938, includes ministers and
churches who were formerly connected with the
northern Presbyterian Church. Before consider-
ing a marriage it is imperative to learn the reasons
for a previous divorce.

It is therefore in a spirit of genuine Christian
affection and out of deep tribulations that we
come to you. The Bible, which is the supreme
standard of our churches, must be our guide in
this matter as always. May we list the following:

1. The Auburn Affirmation. This document,
signed by more than 1200 ministers back in 1924,
denied outright the plenary inspiration of the
Scriptures and it rejected as "theories" such
glorious facts as the virgin birth of Christ, the
bodilv resurrection of our Lord, His miracles, and
the blood atonement. This poison in the life of the
church has permeated all fields of its endeavor
and led to the general acceptance of what is
called the "inclusive church"— that is, that belief
and unbelief can fellowship together in the broad
circle of the church.

2. The Mandate of 1934 and the Judicial De-
cisions of 1936. By these actions the General As-
sembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
established an authority and power in the denom-
ination contrary to our Protestant position and
heritage. Bv them the position of the papists over
the consciences of men was established and the
foundations laid for what is called "the coming
great church."

Ministers of the Presbyterian Church, faithful
to the doctrines of the church, were given a severe
penalty of deposition from the ministry and sus-
pension from the Communion of the church be-
cause they maintained membership in the Indepen-
dent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions,
while men who denied fundamental doctrines of
the faith were not disciplined but honored in
high positions.

3. The Church Properties. Local church prop-
erty built by the members of local churches has
been claimed by the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.,
and the people have been denied the use of the
property which they built. The denomination has
taken local churches to court when they have re-
nounced the jurisdiction of the denomination and
sought to continue their testimony faithful to
Presbyterian doctrine and polity. Once churches
of the United Presbyterian Church become a part
of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. there
will never be any right to withdraw or to own

local church property. A church with its property
may enter the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., but it
can never get out with its property. The "property
club," as it is frequently called, is one of the forces
being used to keep people in the denomination
and also to make it possible for the denomination
to take all into any forthcoming church union.

4. The Church Union Movement. The present
emphasis on church union is a part of the major
emphasis of this century to unite all churches into
one visible, organic, "Holy Catholic Church."
Leaders in this movement on its broadest level
are among prominent clergy of the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A., including Dr. John A.
Mackav, president of Princeton Seminarv, who is
also the president of the International Missionary
Council and the World Presbyterian Alliance.

5. Schools and Seminaries. Princeton Theolog-
ical Seminary, called "the seminary of the Presby-
terian Church in the U.S.A.," has departed from
the position of plenary inspiration of the Scriptures
as set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith
and Catechisms. Princeton's president. Dr. John
A. Mackay, has become a disciple of Karl Barth
and as recently as October, 1956, writing in
Theologij Today, affirms the Barthian denial of
verbal inspiration by declaring that "Biblical
authoritv is not bound up with the genetic or
historical problem of the composition of the
books"! We know of no seminar)' or school under
the direction and control of the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A. which any longer holds to
the historic Presbyterian position that the Bible
is the Word of God. '

6. The Presbijterian Letter. The General Coun-
cil of the Presbvterian Church in the U.S.A.
adopted a letter, November 2, 1953, written by
Dr. John A. Mackay, and addressed, "Dear Fellow
Presbvterians," calling Communism a secular
religious faith, pleading for a soft and tolerant
attitude toward Russia, and advocating the prin-
ciples of peaceful coexistence. The United Nations,
with atheistic Russia, was said to be "in harmony
with the principles of God's moral government."

7. The New Curriculum. The Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A. has initiated an entire new
program of Sunday school literature which pre-
sents the new theology to the church. This has
caused much controversy. Outstanding leaders
who deny the faith have been featured. Even
attacks upon the Scriptures have been contained
in articles supposed to commend the Bible.

These significant conditions and features of
the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. are a part
of a general pattern which has estaWished itself.
Those of us who believe the Bible to be the Word
of God and desire to see our children trained in
the faith of our fathers must resist these deflec-
tions, and, in obedience to Scripture, "earnestly
contend for the faith." We therefore in bearing
this witness appeal to you not to go into the Pres-
byterian Church, U.S.A., and, if the United Presby-
terian Church does organically submerge itself,
then that you continue as a faithful remnant. To
this end we would encourage you. Jesus Christ is
the Head of the Church and He is the Christ of
the Scriptures not the Christ of modern recon-
struction or the Christ whose kingdom is a Marxian
social order.

Our heritage as Presbyterians is a glorious one.
Our forebears have repeatedly forsaken all and
worshiped in the hills and in open barges floating
at sea. Manv of our brethren have died rather
than compromise the faith, and our Saviour has
said, "He that loveth father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me : and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And
he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me,
is not worthy of me" (Matt. 10:37, 38).

Rest assured we are not alone. God is faithful.
He is leading in an increasing movement of sepa-
ration and there has been formed for co-operation
among the Bible-believing remnants the American
Council of Christian Churches which functions in
our country and the International Council of
Christian Churches standing on the world level.

Finally, in the lessons which God has taught us,
we have been determined to preserve our Presby-
terian faith in great freedom. We have seen the
denominations grow in centrahzed and bureau-
cratic powers with development of ecclesias-
tical machines. We are seeking to preserve a
free church with a free people. God has been a
Father unto us as He promised and our joy is
in Him and in His Son who is our life. "And every
one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or
sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or
lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundred-
fold, and shall inherit everlasting life" (Matt.
19:29).

Faithfully in Christ,

Twentieth Synod

Bible Presbyterian Church

Resolution adopted by the 21st Synod, 1957:

The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

The Bible Presbyterian Church notes with
deep regret the merger of the United Presbyterian
Church with the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A. Because of the unfortunate experience of
some of our ministers, churches, and members with
that particular church in times past, the Twentv-
first Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church feels
led of our Lord to sound this note of warning to
you who are now to be brought into intimate
fellowship with and under the jurisdiction of men
whose concept of Christianity is far from that
which is given us in the Bible and summarized in
their statement of faith. The Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A. is officially apostate. In the official
mandate of the General Assembly of 1934, it was
ruled that full support of the boards and agencies
of the denomination was just as binding an obliga-
tion as the taking of Communion, or believing in
Jesus Christ. This put the word of man above the
Word of God. It is therefore with this thought in
mind and with genuine concern for the brethren
in the United Presbyterian Church that we offer
the following resolution:

Whereas, as far back as 1924, 1200 ministers
of that church signed a statement, now commonly
known as the Auburn Affirmation, in which the
essential doctrines of Christianity previously
affirmed by the General Assembly were declared
to be a mere theory; and

Whereas, that church has never raised its
voice against that vicious document nor ques-
tioned the theology of any of its writers or
signers in connection with this document, which in
relation to that church's statement of faith is
clearly heretical; and

Whereas, ministers who were faithful to the
name of Jesus Christ and who have stood against
the apostasy of our day have been suspended
from the church because they could not partic-
ipate in the unbelieving policies of the modernists;
and

Whereas, congregations of that denomination
which have felt it their duty to God to separate
from that denomination, that they might serve
God according to His commands, have been de-
prived of all their property, in some cases through
suit in civil court; and

Whereas, through their membership in the
National Council of Churches and the World
Council of Churches, that denomination is helping
to build a world church, of which there are many

indications that it will include religions which
make no pretense of being Christian; and

Whereas, in the theological seminaries of that
denomination verbal inspiration of the Bible is
denied, as typified by a quotation of Dr. John A.
Mackay, president of Princeton Theological Sem-
inary, writing m Theology Today, October, 1956,
which follows, "Biblical authority is not bound up
with the genetic or historical problem of the com-
position of the books"; and

Whereas, in a letter written by Dr. John A.
Mackay as moderator of the General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., and later adopted
by the General Assembly, addressed, "Dear Fellow
Presbyterians," under date of November 2, 1953,
which is without precedent in that church. Com-
munism is called a secular religious faith of great
vitality, and the United Nations, which includes
atheistic Russia, is made to be "in harmony with
the principles of God's moral government"; and

Whereas, that denomination has instituted an
entire new program of Sunday school literature
commonly known as the "New Curriculum, ' in
which outstanding leaders who deny the faith
have been featured and in which it is quite clear
that many writers of the lessons do not, believe in
the deity of Jesus Christ or in the inspiration of
the Bible as the Word of God;

Therefore, be it resolved, that the Twenty-first
General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church,
assembled in Collingswood, New Jersey, stronglv
urges churches and presbyteries of the United
Presbyterian Church to refuse to enter the merger
with the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., and form a
continuing United Presbyterian Church, in which
God's holy Word may be preached without fear or
favor, and maintain the glorious heritage of that
church to the glory of God and the saving of lost
souls for which there is so great a need today.

Resolution adopted by the 22nd Synod, 1958:

Dr. John A. Mackay, President of Princeton
Theological Seminary

With the feature article in Presbyterian Life
(Sept. 15) honoring Dr. John A. Mackay's admin-
istration of 23 years as president of Princeton
Theological Seminary, we deem it vital and
necessary to call to the attention of Presbyterians
everywhere the tragic developments which have
taken place under his regime that concern the
Word of God and the historic Christian faith.

Under Dr. Mackay's administration there has
been'a definite shift away from Princeton's historic
allegiance to the Bible and the Westminster Con-
fession of Faith and toward liberalism, thus com-
pletely vindicating the charges of Dr. J. Gresham
Machen in the 30's over Princeton's reorganization.

The charter of Princeton Theological Sem-
inary adopted by the General Assembly of 1811
contains the following pledge required of all
professors (Article 3, Section 3): "I do solemnly
promise and engage not to inculcate, teach, or
insinuate anything which shall appear to be to
contradict or contravene, either directlv or im-
pliedly, anything taught in the Confession of Faith
or Catechisms . . . while I shall continue as
professor in this seminary."

That this charter has been violated and Dr.
Machen justified can be illustrated in Dr. Elmer
Homrighausen's published statement, "Few in-
telligent Protestants can still hold to the idea that
the Bible is an infallible book . . .," and Dr.
Mackay's neo-orthodox view that "we must discern
the Word of God in the Bible." The Confession of
Faith states the Bible to be the Word of God. The
General Assembly of 1892 asserted: "The General
Assembly would remind all under its care that it is
a fundamental doctrine that the Old and New
Testaments are the inspired and infallible Word
of God. Our church holds that the inspired Word
as it came from God is without error. If they
(ministers, professors) change their belief on this
point. Christian honor demands that they should
withdraw from our ministry. They have no right
to use the pulpit or the chair of the professor for
the dissemination of their errors until they are
dealt with by the slow process of discipline. But
if any do so act, their Presbyteries should speedily
interpose and deal with them for violation of
ordination vows" (p. 179, Minutes, 1892). Instead
of being thus honored. Dr. Mackay and others
ought to face charges of violation of these ordina-
tion vows.

As president of Princeton Seminary, Dr.
Mackay has done additional disservice to the cause
of Christ by the great encouragement he has
given the atheistic and tyrannical Communist
cause. He has long advocated the entrance of
Red China into the United Nations, which, if
accomplished, could only be done in violation of
the U. N. Charter. He has brought to Princeton as
visiting professors. Dr. Josef L. Hromadka of
Czechoslovakia, who, according to Dr. Matthew
Spinka of Hartford Seminary, is the world's
Number One Protestant defender of Communism.

Dr. Mackay sits with Hromadka, who not only
has capitulated to Communism but is openly
propagandizing for it, in the World Presbyterian
Alliance. Dr. Mackay also received a Communist
honorary degree from Budapest Theological
Academy, just before the Hungarian freedom
fighters ousted these traitorous church leaders in
their brief days of freedom.

Nowhere can the deterioration under Dr.
Mackay's leadership of Princeton, from the con-
victions of Archibald Alexander, Charles Hodge,
Benjamin Warfield, Robert Dick Wilson, and J.
Gresham Machen, be more clearly seen than in
Dr. Mackay's complete devotion to the ecumenical
dream of a one-world church and a one-world
government. His famous phrase at the Oxford
Conference of 1937, "Let the Church be the
Church," cannot be understood except that it
means for him a church in which its foundation,
"the infallible and inspired Word of God," is
thrown aside and an alien and unscriptural con-
cept of a church which includes men who deny
the person and work of Christ, such as Henry P.
Van Dusen, George A. Buttrick, etc., are included.

This same Oxford Conference cleverly under-
mined our present private enterprise society in
which the church is free, by stating, "It must be
the ceaseless concern (of the Church of Christ)
to rid herself from all subjugation to a prevailing
culture, an economic system, a social tvpe, or a
political order" (Presbyterian Life, Sept. 15, 1958,
p. 11).

This weakening of our religious, social, and
economic life is evidenced in the famous Presby-
terian letter of 1953 in which the Communist
doctrine of "peaceful coexistence" is advocated,
as well as the ridiculing of our Congressional in-
vestigating committees. These attacks by the
president of Princeton Seminary serve to indicate
how far Princeton has gone in denying the faith
which for over 100 years she so stalwartly de-
fended.

Answer to the "First Message of the United
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. to the 9,462
Congregations," adopted by the 22nd
Synod, 1958:

Whereas, the First Message of the United
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. to its 9,462
congregations, adopted by the First General As-
sembly of the merged body, is a definite "state-

ment of intent," clearly revealing a departure
from the Bible and the historic Christian faith as
summarized by the Westminster Confession of
Faith and Catechisms; and

Whereas, this "First Message" promotes and
espouses the dangerous, pro-Communistic line of
"peaceful coexistence," stating that "we today must
coexist with Communist nations. In this nuclear
age, the only alternative to coexistence is co-
extinction." This is clever propaganda to promote
an already dangerous policy of Red appeasement,
leading to a summit conference with Khrushchev,
and the eventual reception of Red China into the
U.N. These Communist nations are the very same
gangster-nations who have demonstrated con-
clusively their complete lack of common decency
and morality in international affairs; and

Whereas, this "First Message" demonstrates a
clear endorsement and espousal of the neo-ortho-
dox heresy, which rejects the full authority of the
Holy Scriptures as the inerrant and infallible Word
of God; and

Whereas, this "Message" presents a way of
salvation which is church-centered rather than
Christ-centered, and completely devoid of any
resemblance of Scriptural evangelism, where the
necessity of the blood atonement is emphasized;
and

Whereas, this letter represents a departure
from the historic Presbyterian belief in the total
depravity of all mankind, suggesting instead that
real wisdom demands that "estranged people must
meet one another; . . . they must overcome enmity
and distrust by the sharing of goods, knowledge,
and human resources for the welfare of mankind.
. . . We as a people should, therefore, be ready
to admit our faults to other nations as a prelude
to seeking a basis of understanding. Contrition for
our own sins will do more to create an atmosphere
conducive to peace than press releases denouncing
the sins of others." Biblical, God-fearing, Christ-
honoring wisdom could not fail to recognize that
such actions on our part would be an immediate
victory for the Communists, because in their
atheistic philosophy there is no recognition of sin,
and there is no moral law to break. This pro-
nouncement demonstrates just how far this new
Presbyterian body has gone from the historic
church as established by John Knox, John Calvin,
and other Reformers.

Therefore, be it resolved, that we once again
remind our nation that coexistence is not compati-
ble with Christian principles, and that it is an
act of disobedience to God to do evil that good

may come. The evil of Communism cannot be
neutralized by pious platitudes, but it must be
faced by a strong, powerful and determined people
who are willing to fight for their heritage.

Be it further resolved, that we inform the 9,462
Presbyterian churches and their people that such
a pronouncement as this "First Message" demon-
strates just how far the present Presbyterian
Church has departed from the historic faith of our
fathers who wrote and lived the Westminster
Confession of Faith.

Be it further resolved, that we urge all God-
fearing, Bible-believing Presbyterians to leave
their present associations with unbelief and com-
promise, in obedience to the Scriptures, and join
with those churches of the Twentieth Century Ref-
ormation which are separate from the National
Council of Churches and the World Council of
Churches and have united in an aggressive stand
to uphold "the faith which was once delivered
unto the saints."

Statement adopted at the 25th Synod, 1961:

The Blake-Pike Proposal

The Twenty-fifth General Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church declares that the
"Blake-Pike Proposal," calling for the union of
four major Protestant denominations, should be
rejected and vigorously opposed by all Bible-
believing Christians. All who desire to preserve the
historic Christian faith and the churches of our
Lord as His candlesticks have a solemn duty to
join in the Twentieth Century Reformation
struggle, which includes resisting the building of
these united churches on principles which violate
the Word of God.

1. Dr. Blake in his proposal announces his
willingness to abandon "soh scriptura." No longer
must it be "only Scripture, only grace, onlv faith."
Blake declared, "So long as the wording 'sola scrip-
tura' is required, no bridge can be made between
catholic and evangelical." Further, he emphasized,
". . . the Bible is not a law book or a collection of
proof texts . . ."

2. Dr. Blake would make the church an author-
ity along with the Scriptures, and the church of
the twentieth century will present an "authentic
word of God on a political issue." He employs the
arguments that Rome has used through the cen-
turies but rejected by the Protestant Reformation:
(1) the need of one voice; (2) the sectarian con-
fusion; (3) the duplication of organization; (4)

and .the value of tradition. The proposed union
points the way to a return to the fold of the
Roman Cathohc Church.

3. According to Dr. Blake's proposal the voice
and power of the church also replaces the inde-
pendence and freedom of the individual. The
church is to speak its voice and each man must
accept and adjust himself to this voice. The re-
sponsibility of each individual to follow the voice
of the Scripture as he is guided by the Holv Spirit
is replaced by the Holy Spirit speaking through the
church and the ecumenical leaders.

4. Dr. Blake's proposal pronounces the genius
of Protestantism as a sin. The "pluraformitv" of
the church must give way to the united church
whose ultimate goal, according to Dr. Blake, is
a one-world church with Protestants, Anglicans,
Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholics.

This Twenty-fifth General Synod calls upon
all Presbyterians to resist, and summons them to
help presers'e a Presbvterian heritage in this
countrv which will be trulv Biblical, trulv Prot-
estant, and truly free.

Statement adopted at the 28th Synod, 1964:

Unbelief in Presbyterian "Crossroads" Magazine

The Twentv-eighth General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church recalls the fact that many of
its founders left what is now the United Pres-
bvterian Church in the U.S.A. when Dr. Machen
was rebuffed in his efforts to raise a protest within
that body against increasing departure from the
doctrinal standards of its founders. The Presbyte-
rian churches were founded by men who firmlv
believed in the Bible as God's infallible Word,
free from all human error and entirely dependable.
Dr. Machen pointed out the unbelief of men in
prominent positions in seminaries and mission
boards, and for this activity the denomination re-
buked him and drove him from its ministrv. Sub-
sequent events have shown how right was Dr.
Machen's judgment as to the power of unbelief
and modernism in the denomination. New evi-
dence of this declension from God's truth are
constantly arising. A particularly glaring instance
is to be seen in the current issue of Crossroads,
an official publication of the United Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A. This issue of Crossroads
(Oct. -Dec, 1964) contains a series of Sunday
school lessons, based on the Book of Deuteron-
omy, and presenting as established truth the
unbiblical and unscientific theories of the higher

criticism which originated in Germany nearly a
century ago. No factual evidence for these anti-
Scriptural theories was then known, nor has any
been discovered since. On the contrary, during the
past century archaeologists have brought to light
many new evidences of the facts of ancient history,
and these facts fit with the Bible as it stands, not
with the Bible as torn asunder and rearranged by
the baseless theories of the Wellhausen hypothesis,
with their claim that the Pentateuch came into
existence through the combination of documents
J, E, D, and P, documents supposed to have been
vvTitten long after the time of Moses. These doc-
uments are referred to in the Sunday school lessons
as fact, although no proof that such documents
ever existed has been produced. We cannot but
view with horror the inevitable destruction of the
faith of young people that is bound to follow from
the use of such Sunday school material in Presby-
terian churches.

In view of this new and unanswerable evidence
of the rise of unbelievers to positions of authority in
the United Presbyterian Church, we call upon all
true Christians who still belong to the membership
of that church seriously to consider and ponder the
commands of God to separate from unbelief and
not to touch the unclean thing. We urge such
people to consider the effect upon their children
of the anti-Christian propaganda to which such
teaching, found also in the young people's quarter-
lies, subjects them. We invite all true Presby-
terians to separate from denominations that have
fallen under the sway of unbelief and to unite
with us in raising a testirnony to God's truth that
shall be uncompromising in its loyalty to His holy
Word, and in its determination to make known to
a dying world the onjy means of salvation from
sin, provided by the atoning death of the Lord
Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross.

The New Confession of 1967

In 1958 vvdth the merger between the old
United Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A., it was hoped that there
might be a hew infusion of conservative theology
and evangelistic zeal, but the actual outcome has
quickly ma^e a mockery of such hopes.

The climax of apostasy is expressed in the new
Confession of 1967. If there had been any exten-
sive doubt in 1938 that the course they were
following was a valid one, it was completely and
totally dissipated by the publication of the pro-

posed Confession of 1967 of the United Presby-
terian Church in the U.S.A. The new confession
disqualifies the church from using the name
Presbyterian. The United Presbyterian Church in
the U.S.A. no longer meets the requirements of
a true Church of Christ. It denies, in creed and
practice, the historic Christian faith and thus
ceases to be a Christian church.

When the break came and the exodus from
the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. began. Dr.
Harry Emerson Fosdick exulted: "The future of
the Presbyterian Church rests in the hands of the
liberals. It remains to be seen what they will do
with it." What the liberals did vdth the Presbyte-
rian Church comprises the history of the church
and its apostasy in the next 30 years.

The new confession is separated from the Bible
and actually separates Jesus Christ Himself from
the Bible. The new confession gives a different
kind of religion and actually declares the position
and idea of the Auburn Affirmation of 1924. They
have taken the principles of the Auburn Affirma-
tion and the teachings of the Auburn Affirmation
and have incorporated them into a new confession
of faith which involves a change in the church's
confession, not their position. The key words of
the Great Commission are no longer power,
preaching, and presence, but race, war, and
proverty. The emphasis is upon social and civil
rights. After 1967, the mission of the church will
be to reconcile society, eradicating the three major
evils that divide men— race, war, and proverty.

In reality the new creed stigmatizes those
who offer it, for they have perjured themselves
to gain admission into a confessional church and
now work to change the doctrines they professed
when they took the oath to maintain and defend
those doctrines. The Barthian basis of the new
confession is subtle enough to deceive the con-
servatives in the church and vague enough in its
generalities to cover, by interpretation, the most
radical revolutionary tactics.

Christianity Today of December 3, 1965, said:
"In many repects the present controversy in the
United Presbyterian Church assumes an impor-
tance far beyond the bounds of that one great
denomination. For Presbyterianism in the United
States has exercised a theological influence out-
side its own ecclesiastical borders."

The Confession of 1967 is the rejection of
the teaching of this Confession that the Bible
is the "Word of God" and "the infallible truth."

Statement by Dr. Carl Mclntire

The Confession of 1967 demotes Jesus Christ
to the level of a social reformer and makes Him
a creature of His time, subject to the error of His
day. It leaves out Heaven and hell.

It rejects the Bible as the infallible Word of
God and declares its words to be "the words of
men" of the "time at which they were written."

Its theme is "reconciliation, " which means that
opposing parties to social disputes get together
by each side conceding certain points. This is the
strategy for social revolution, not the reconciling
of man to God, in which God provided the full
sacrifice for man's sin in the death of His only be-
gotten Son, and the individual accepts it by faith
alone.

It is a Magna Charta to support Martin Luther
King and the National Council of Churches' drive
to change the social structure of the U.S.A. from
freedom to socialism.

It seeks a new message for our present needs
as God continues "to speak to men in a changing
world and in every form of human culture " —
which includes the Communist culture, too.

"An Open Letter to All Christians," adopted by
unanimous action of the Synod of the Bible
Presbyterion Church, meeting in Columbus,
Ohio, 1965:

Columbus, Ohio

May 25, 1965

An Open Letter to All Christians

To Our Brethren in Christ, Beloved in the Lord:

Developments have taken place in Columbus,
Ohio, which we believe are of the highest signif-
icance to all Christians. In more than 300 years
nothing like this has happened and the conse-
quences of it will reach into many, many churches
and, we believe, into all sections of the world.

A new confession of faith, called The Confes-
sion of 1967, was received here this week by 177th
General Assembly of the United Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A. This is the largest Presby-
terian body in the world and under the leadership
of Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, the chief executive
officer, its influence in what is called the ecu-
menical movement is far-reaching. In fact, this
new confession of faith actually lays the ground-
work and is a pattern for the development of the
one world church. The emphasis upon what they

call Christian unity is so great, the demand so
pressing, that the most radical changes are being
recommended so the denominations may be pre-
pared to unite organically. Their goal is an ul-
timate reunion with the Roman Catholic Church.

COMMISSION COMMITTEEMEN — Explaining provisions of
the proposed Confession of 1967, members of the committee
which drafted it face newsmen after a session of the United
Presbyterian General Assembly. From left to right are: Mrs.
Janet Harbison, associate editor of Presbyterian Lite; John
Meister, Fort Wayne, Ind., pastor; and Prof. Edward A. Dowey,
Jr., Princeton Theological Seminary, chairman. (Photo —
Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, Ohio)

This new Confession of Faith is indeed very
new. Nothing in 2,000 years corresponds to it. It
has started on the way required by the constitution
to make it the Confession of 1967. It is the new
guide for the church, directing the course it shall
take.

In an official document introducing the new
confession, entitled "Confessions of the Church,
Types and Functions," by Professor Edward A.
Dowey, Jr., of Princeton Theological Seminary,
chairman of the Committee which produced the
document, we are told exactly what is being done.

"The Westminster Confession standing alone
is not modem enough to guide the present, nor is
it ancient enough to represent the past." The article
explains, "The test of a confession is not how it
conforms to type or excels in style, but whether it
brings the church actually to express in words and
deeds the meaning of the Gospel in contemporary
life. A statement that is appropriate and powerful
in its own day may fail to guide the church after
some decades or centuries have gone by but comes
to resemble a monument marking the past more
than a tool for present work." A new tool, there-
fore, must be provided for the church's guidance.
And these monuments of the past are to be left be-
hind as monuments or as pieces in a museum. Thus
accompanying the new confession which is pres-
ently to express the faith and purpose of the
church, there will be several of the ancient docu-

ments, such as the Scots Confession, the Heidel-
berg Catechism. The Westminster Confession will
then take its place among these monuments, with
no greater standing than a historic relic which can
perhaps inspire some.

But the new confession also will become out-
dated before long and the church will again have
to adopt a Confession of 1980, or 2000. Since the
church's view of its needs and its message change,
its confession therefore must change.

But does the church's message change?

With the most emphatic emphasis we declare
to all Christians who may read this letter that we
confess our faith by declaring what the Bible
teaches and what God has said. We believe God!
God does not change from generation to genera-
tion. His Word cannot be amended. Jesus Christ
is "the same \'esterdav, and to dav, and for ever."
The Gospel does not change. It is the everlasting
Gospel of the grace of God. This new confession,
therefore, turns the church away from what the
Holy Scriptures teach as "thus saith the Lord" to
confessing what the present church feels is its
present message and current need.

Let us therefore consider what the new confes-
sion says about the Bible, Jesus Christ, its program
of change, and its strong emphasis on social and
political action.

In the paragraph on "The Bible," we read:

"The words of the Scripture are the words of
men, conditioned by the language, thought forms
and literary fashions of the places and times at
which they were written. They reflect the views
of life, history and the cosmos which were then
current and the understanding of them requires
literary and historical scholarship. The varietv of
such views found in the Bible shows that God has
communicated with men in diverse cultural condi-
tions. This gives the church confidence that He
will continue to speak to men in a changing world
and in every form of human culture."

So God will continue to speak to us today as He
did in the past and "in every form of human cul-
ture." The Bible therefore is not the Word of God,
its words are simply the words of men.

How different this is from the first chapter of
the Westminster Confession of Faith, "Of the Holy
Scriptures." Here we read: "The authority of the
Holy Scripture for which it ought to be believed
and obeyed dependeth not upon the testimony of
anv man or church but wholly upon God, who is
truth itself, the author thereof, and therefore it is
to be received because it is the Word of God."
And again, "The whole counsel of God concerning

all things necessary for his own glory and man's
salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set
down in Scripture or by good and necessary conse-
quences may be deduced from Scripture under
which nothing at any time is to be added whether
by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of
men."

Thus the anticipated message from God for
the present day, which the new confession recog-
nizes as valid for the present church, could not be
added to the Bible. The old beliefs about the Bible
are no longer acceptable.

In the "Introductory Comment and Analysis"
accompanying the Confession of 1967 as presented
to the United Presbyterian General Assembly, we
are told concerning the paragraph on the Bible we
have quoted above from the new confession, "This
section is an intended revision of the Westminster
Doctrine, which rested primarily on a view of in-
spiration and equated the Bible canon directly
with the Word of God." This, therefore, is an
open acknowledgment that the historic position
of the church that the Bible is the inspired, in-
errant Word of God is now being abandoned.
Thus the Bible is too old, not modern enough to
provide today's message!

When we consider what the new confession
says about Jesus Christ we find ourselves in a
similar position. Nowhere are we told that He is
the only begotten Son of God or the eternal Son
of God or even the Son of God. Nowhere are we
told that He was virgin-bom or that He was the
second person of the eternal Trinity, sinless, or
that He would personally return again in the clouds
of heaven. There is no Heaven or hell, no justifica-
tion by faith. We are told that "the risen Christ
is the savior of all men. " But in this setting is He
the Christ who rose from the dead on the third
day, and what kind of Saviour is He? Will all men
be saved? Indeed, the new confession does open
the door for a universalism. And since the new
confession was meant to be a revision of the West-
minster Confession, where it deals with the doc-
trine of inspiration, this section also revises Jesus
Christ. He was a creature of His dav. We do not
even know how Christ saves. We are simplv told,
"God's reconciling act in Jesus Christ is a mystery
which the Scriptures express in various ways."
These various ways are then described to us as
"images of a truth which remains beyond the reach
of all theory in the depths of God's love for man."

One of these images is described as "vicarious
satisfaction of a legal penalty," another is "ran-
som," another, "a shepherd's life given for his

sheep."

In the Bible these are not images; these are
reahties, truth. This is what Christ did. He was
the Shepherd and we were the lost sheep. This
Shepherd is no "symbol" or theory. He is the good
Shepherd who giveth His life for the sheep! In
the new confession, whatever God's reconciling
act in Christ may have been, it is so mysterious
and so far beyond us that we do not know what
it was. The very life is taken out of Christ and out
of the Gospel. We do not preach "images." We
preach the Truth, the Good News. "For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not
perish, but have everlasting life" is not a theory.
It is not an image. It is not a symbol. It is simply
the eternal message which God has given to us,
true and final. Yes, we believe it all!

The strange thing here is that there seems to
be no uncertainty about Christ's leadership when
it comes to social questions. And you are a heretic
if you do not follow. Actually, the new confession
demotes the Son of God to the level of some
brilliant, ingenius, magnificent social reformer
and He must lead us in this ministrv of reconcilia-
tion in our social conflicts and international ten-
sions to a fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on
earth. Christ, the Word of God, as thev call him,
is separated from the Scripture as the written
Word of God. They are free to make Christ be
the type of leader they desire for our day.

Thus we do come to the great theme of the
new confession — reconciliation. The "Preface "
tells us: "God's reconciling work in Jesus Christ
and the mission of reconciliation to which he has
called his church are the heart of the gospel in
any age. Our generation stands in peculiar need of
reconciliation in Christ. Accordingly this Confes-
sion of 1967 was built upon that theme." What
then is the heart of the Gospel in our age? This
we shall see as the confession comes to its climax.
It concerns race, peace and war, and poverty.

The confession is divided into three sections —
God's work of reconciliation, the ministry of rec-
onciliation, and the fulfillment of reconciliation.

Under this "Ministry of Reconciliation " we are
told, "To be reconciled to God is to be sent into
the world as his reconciling community. This com-
munity, the church universal, is entrusted with
God's message of reconciliation and shares his
labor of healing the enmities of mankind." These
enmities of mankind as dealt with in the "recon-
ciliation of society" are the conflicts in the field of
race. We are told that the church as the commu-

nity of reconciliation is called to bring "all men to
accept one another as persons and to share life
on every level, in work and play, in courtship,
marriage, and family, in church and state." It
would appear, therefore, that to be fully reconciled
in the racial tensions between the Negro and the
white there must be acceptance of one another
"in courtship, marriage and family." Thus inter-
marriage between the Negro and the white be-
comes a part of the Confession of Faith. But how
nianv really share that faith?

The section concerning nuclear, chemical, and
biological armaments which "threaten to annihi-
late mankind" tells us: "The church is called to
practice the forgiveness of enemies in its own life
and to commend to the nation as practical politics
the search for co-operation and peace. This re-
quires the establisment of fresh relations across
everv line of conflict and the risk of national
security to reduce areas of strife and broaden inter-
national understanding." Where are moral con-
siderations in dealing with evil, and defending
freedom? How better could one describe the Com-
munist program of peaceful coexistence? This is
the line being heard in leftist and even Communist
circles. The Communists are anxious to have us
collaborate or co-operate in fresh relations across
everv line of conflict. Thus the Christians of the
United States are to be led to support a policy
which risks our national security in order to reduce
areas of strife. Does this support the program of
total disarmament and policies which involve
trusting the Russians? Let us remember we are
dealing with the Confession of Faith of 1967. Must
the church produce the faith to disarm in our
world of evil men?

Again, the section dealing with "The Ministry
of Reconciliation, " which would remove poverty
tells us, "The church cannot condone poverty
whether it be the product of unjust social struc-
tures, exploitation of the defenseless, lack of
national resources, absence of technological under-
standing, or rapid expansion of populations." So,
to remove poverty, the church must take the lead
in pointing out what it calls unjust social struc-
tures. Does this involve civil disobedience?

The section dealing with "Fullfillment of Rec-
onciliation" is short. It talks about "Biblical
visions and images of the rule of Christ such as a
heavenly city, a father's house, a new heaven and
earth, a marriage feast, and an unending day cul-
minate in the image of the kingdom." And we find
that it is now the church's business to bring in
this kingdom by social and political action. So,

"In steadfast hope the church looks beyond all
partial achievements to the final triumph of God."
And this triumph of God can be none other than a
one-world government, the kingdom. But Jesus
Christ said, "Mv kingdom is not of this world."
His kingdom is spiritual, eternal, and one may enter
it only by faith, not by political action. "Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God" (John 3:3). Nowhere in this new creed are
we told that!

There is no Second Coming of Christ in the
clouds of heaven to raise the dead, no destruction
of the world bv fire, and so the church turns to
political action to bring about a new world. Here
is the place for the U.N. This is the program of the
church according to the Confession of 1967. The
specifics can all be filled in by each General As-
sembly!

How different all of this is from the teaching
of the Bible. In the Bible God is calling out of this
world a people for His name's sake. These people
are to be the salt of the earth. They live and work
for righteousness. Righteousness is not recon-
ciliation.

Here, reconciliation becomes a technique of
revolution to bring about the social change and
to usher in "the kingdom." But the child of God
is to seek first God's kingdom and His righteous-
ness. We hear nothing about righteousness — the
law of God — in this confession. Psalm 1, "Blessed
is the man that waUceth not in the counsel of the
ungodly, " is nowhere appealed to. Now under the
new confession we must develop preachers and
promoters of a world revolution by means of
reconciliation, where the parties to conflict now
make concessions and finally come up with some
agreement. This is capitulation through com-
promise, not obedience to righteousness. How
different all of this is from the plain teaching of
the Bible, "Righteousness exalteth a nation but
sin is a reproach to any people." "Reconciliation '
becomes a temptation to compromise and sur-
render truth, freedom, all in the name of unity,
peace, and social justice.

In writing this Open Letter we have touched
upon just a few of the significant points, but these
surely are sufficient to show that a great denom-
ination of three and one-half million people is
changing its mission and purpose. The Bible says
the church is "the pillar and ground of the truth,"
and Christ said, "Thy word is truth."

Also in support of the new confession the or-
dination vows men formerly took, as they related
to the Bible, are to be changed. "Do you believe

the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments
to be the Word of God, the only infallible rule of
faith and practice? " has been the vow which every
Presbyterian minister made since the day the
church was formed. It has never been changed.
But this vow commits the church to the offensive
\ iew of inspiration, that the Bible is the Word of
God. So this too must be changed. In its place we
have a rather innocuous statement which means
about anything that the person who takes it wants
it to mean. "Do you accept the Scriptures of the
Old and New Testaments to be the normative
witness to Jesus Christ in the Church catholic, and
b\' his Spirit God's word to vou?" The word
"beliese " is eliminated. The word "accept" is much
more general. But who understands and who can
define "normative"? What are its boundaries? And
it is onlv a witness to Jesus Christ. What of the
truth the Bible reveals about the Devil? What of
the truth the Bible teaches us about hell? What of
the truth the Bible tells us about Adam and Eve,
and the Genesis account of creation, where "in
the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth "? What is the significance in the phrase "in
the church catholic"? Why should it be added at
this time? Is this suggesting now that such an
ordination vow will provide what is needed in the
one-world church? Then, in the final reference
"bv his Spirit, God's word to you," the word "word"
has a small "w." Thus, God's Spirit speaks to each
man and each man decides what that word might
mean to him. This is completeh' subjective. The
Bible is not the "Word," it is only those portions
or parts of it which the indi\idual may believe that
the Spirit is telling him is God's Word to him.

By this time, surely we mav ask. What has be-
come of Christianity, the historic Christian Faith?
The new Confession of 1967 gives us a new re-
ligion, one adapted to the twentieth century, so
they would have us think. Let us return to the
pure written Word of God. Let us listen to the
eternal Son of God who said, "Heaven and earth
shall pass away but my words shall not pass away. "
Hear the Apostle Paul: If an angel from heaven
comes and preaches any other gospel than that
which we have preached, let him be accursed.
This new confession must be rejected by all of
God's people!

At this point, too, we come face to face with
the fact that the Bible has in it many blessed com-
mands. We are to strive together for the faith of
the Gospel. We are to contend earnestly for the
faith once delivered unto the saints. We are to
try the spirits and see whether they be of God.

Nothing like this is suggested in the new confes-

sion.

It is therefore in the fulfilknent of this respon-
sibility given to us in the infallible Holy Scriptures
that we direct this letter to you. We ask every
Christian to enlist in the battle to preserve the
Faith. Every Presbyterian needs to realize that the
new confession is a great apostasy from whab the
church has believed and to which it bound its
ministers by solemn vows. Shall we go with these
changes? Is the Bible wrong? Or shall we at what-
ever cost stay by the old Faith? Shall we be able to
sing, "Faith of our fathers living still"?

Along with this we are confronted with the
fact that the Supreme Court has ruled that the
Bible cannot be read in the public schools. We
have the Revised Standard Version of the Bible,
copyrighted by the National Council of Churches,
which eliminates the virgin birth from Isaiah 7:14,
and vet in the Matthew quotation of Isaiah in-
cludes the virgin birth, thus giving us a contradic-
tion which no man could possibly accept as the
work of the Spirit of God or the Word of God.
Everywhere we turn, the Bible is under assault.
And with it goes the authority of God in the land
and the security and peace which only faith in a
God who can be trusted can bring. It is the God of
the Bible who alone is the Author of liberty.

The Bible Presbyterian Church feels a call to
this task. This church is preserving the faith. Most
of our churches have already come away from the
United Presbyterian Church in order that we
might be free and faitliful. We accept the West-
minster Confession of Faith and Catechisms under
these old binding ordination vows. We indeed find
ourselves in the position of being the spiritual
successor of this United Presbyterian Church. If
we can be of any assistance or help we stand
ready, at your service. It was the good Providence
indeed that led us to put the word "Bible" in
front of the word "Presbyterian." This is our
testimony! Do we have a Word from God, written
and infallible? Our answer is, "yes," for the Bible
itself gives its own testimony and carries its ovwi
witness within its own covers. We stand "for the
word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ"
(Rev. 1:9).

We invite you to come with us. May the Lord
keep and bless us all. And having done all, may
we stand! To God be the glory, great things He
hath done.

Faithfully,
Lynn Gray Gordon, Moderator
James L. Blizzard, Assistant Clerk

Resolution adopted at the Pro re Nata
Synod, 1965:

The United Presbyterian Church and the West-
minster Confession of Faith

Whereas, the United Presbyterian Church,
U.S.A., meeting at its 177th General Assembly,
Columbus, Ohio, proposes an adoption of a new
doctrinal standard called the Confession of 1967,
which includes among other changes the rejection
of the doctrine of verbal inspiration of the Bible
and of election unto salvation through divine
predestination, and what amounts to a rejection
of the Westminster Confession of Faith as an
authoritative statement of essential doctrine
relevant to the twentieth century;

Whereas, the proposed changes urge a revision
of the church's ordination vows which now in-
clude: "(2) Do you believe the Scriptures of the
Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God,
the only infallible rule of faith and practice?" and,
"(3) Do you sincerely receive and adopt The
Confession of Faith and Catechisms of the church
as containing the system of doctrine taught in the
Holy Scriptures?" and would substitute the fol-
lowing vows: "Do you accept the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments to be the normative
witness to Jesus Christ in the Church catholic,
and by his Spirit God's word to you?" and, "Will
you perform the duties of a minister of the gospel
in obedience to Christ, under the authority of the
Scriptures, and the guidance of the confessions of
this Church?"

Therefore, the Synod of the Bible Presbyte-
rian Church meeting at its pro re nata meeting,
May 19-25, 1965, in Columbus, Ohio, declares its
continued belief in:

The infallibihty of the Bible in the original
languages as the inspired, inerrant and unchange-
able Word of God which wdll so remain as Jesus
said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
words shall not pass away" (Matt. 24:35); and

The Westminster Confession of Faith and
Catechisms as containing the system of doctrine
taught in the Bible, the Word of God.

Further, this Synod declares that the proposed
changes by the United Presbyterian Church's
General Assembly will officially constitute a de-
plorable step of apostasy and disqualify it from
using the name Presbyterian. To the degree to
which it thus denies these essential tenets of the
historic Christian faith, it also ceases to be a Chris-
tian church. Such proposed changes also make it
immoral for this body to continue to possess

properties and endowments which were made
and dedicated for the purpose of propagating the
Bible as the Word of God and the teaching of the
system of doctrine set forth in the Westminster
Confession of Faith and Catechisms;

And, finally, this Synod also declares itself to
be the true spiritual successor of historic Presby-
terianism in the United States since this Synod
continues to believe in the doctrines and state-
ments taught in the Bible and set forth in the
Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.

An official communication of the
Pro re Nata Synod, 1965:

May 21, 1965

To the Commissioners of the 177th General A.s-

semhhi of the United Presbyterian Church

in the U.S.A., Columbus, Ohio, May 20-26, 1965

Mr. William Phelps Thompson, Moderator
Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, Stated Clerk

Gentlemen :

The General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church, an autonomous ecclesiastical body, meet-
ing in Columbus, Ohio, concurrently with your
General Assembly, addresses the following mes-
sage to vou in the name of the Lord Jesus, the
great Head and King of the Church:

This General Svnod has met here because of
its concern for the proposed action of your de-
nomination in regard to the Westminster Con-
fession of Faith and Catechisms, the proposed
Confession of 1967, and the contemplated chang-
ing of Presbyterian ordination vows.

The Westminster Confession of Faith and
Catechisms has been the doctrinal standard of
Presbvterian bodies in all sections of the world
and vour present contemplated action we con-
sider to be the most important and revolutionary
of anv Presbvterian body since the adoption of
the Confession by the Westminster Assembly in
1648.

This General Svnod is devoted to that Con-
fession and Cathechisms as the subordinate
standards of our church and to which our min-
isters and elders are bound by the most solemn
ordination vows before God.

For the United Presbyterian Church to take
steps which would remove the Westminster Con-

fession of Faith from the place which it has al-
ways held under binding ordination vows touches
the system of doctrine and the great foundation
truths of our historic Christian faith which have
become an issue in the contro\ers\' of oiu" day.
We refer specifically to the infalliliilit\ and in-
errancy of Holy Scriptures, the blood atonement
with the death of our Sa\'iour being a sacrifice
to satisfy divine justice and to reconcile us to God,
the birth of our Lord of the Virgin Mary, and His
bodib' resurrection from the dead on the third
day, together with all His mighty miracles.

In view of the differences and divisions which
Iiave developed in our century over these doctrines
we liereb\' make the following appeal to \ou:

1. Tliat churches, presbyteries, and synods
which cannot abandon the Westminster Con-
fession of Faith and Catechisms, as their present
vows bind them and obligate them before God,
be permitted to withdraw and retain their
properties and financial interests. Under the
Constitution of the United States we enjoy the
free exercise of religion. In recent months the
emphasis of %'our leaders in the support of the
ci\il rights movement has been upon the rights
of conscience and even here in Columbus your
retiring moderator in his address spoke of obey-
ing God rather than man.

We ask, therefore, that Presbyterians who
cannot accept the proposed new Confession of
1967 and will not agree to the removal of the
Westminster Confession of Faith and Cate-
chisms to a lower level of service in the church,
be permitted, whether synods, presbyteries or
local churches, to maintain their own integrity
and freedom before God without any financial
sanctions or punitive action from vou. We hear
much in \oin- emphasis upon love and brother-
hood and we believe that such indeed should
be practiced at home among those of the same
religious familw even among the Presbyterians.

2. Most of our Bible Presbvterian churches
have come out of \'our General Assembh'. Thev
have suffered much at your hands in the loss
of their church properties and other difficulties.
They have a conscience and ha\'e sacrificed for
Christ's sake. We therefore earnesth' appeal to
you to abandon this policy. The most vital ques-
tions concerning our Presbvterian faith and
heritage are now to be considered in \our im-
mediate future. And may there be no retribution
against those who must obey God rather than

man when it comes to preserving the faith of
our fathers.

3. Finally, we challenge you in the public
debate which shall ensue. Your action in this
field cannot be confined. Other Presbyterian
churches may be led to follow your lead, as a
preparation for the world church. Your action
is of the widest interest and discussion in all
Presbyterian circles and even ecumenical and
non-ecumenical or Twentieth Century Reforma-
tion circles. We therefore inform you that we,
too, shall participate in the public debate. Our
interest is only in truth, eternal truth, and the
preservation of a witness loyal to the infallible

and inerrant Word of God, the Holy Scriptures.

The question before us is: Shall the historic
Presbyterian Faith which we beheve to be in
agreement with the written Word of God, and
which we received from our fathers, be preser\'ed
in our generation? And wiU we hand it down to
our children?

We therefore bring this communication to you
as one ecclesiastical body to another and we would
appreciate a reply.

Sincerely yours in the name of Jesus Christ,

Lynn Gray Gordon, Moderator
James L. Blizzard, Assistant Clerk

THE SYNODS
OF THE BIBLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

SUCCESSION OF MEETING PLACES, MODERATORS,

AND STATED CLERKS OF THE GENERAL SYNODS OF THE BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Date Place

1938 Collingswood, NJ.

1939 Collingswood, N.J.

1940 Chester, Pa.

1941 Charlotte, N.C.

1942 St. Louis, Mo.

1943 Wilmington, Del.

1944 Greenville, S.C.

1945 Harvey Cedars, N.J.

1946 Collingswood, N.J.

1947 Tacoma, Wash.

1948 Nashville, Tenn.

1949 Baltimore, Md.

1950 St. Louis, Mo.

1951 Shelton College,
New York, N.Y.

1952 Highland College,
Pasadena, Calif.

1953 Philadelphia, Pa.

1954 Greenville, S.C.

1955 St. Louis, Mo.

1956 St. Louis, Mo.

Moderator
Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms
Rev. Harold S. Laird, D.D.
Rev. Allan A. MacRae, Ph.D.
Rev. Edgar A. Dillard, D.D.
Rev. J. Gordon Holdcroft, D.D.
Elder Roland K. Amies

Rev. J. Oliver Buswell, Jr.,

Ph.D.
Rev. Flounioy Shepperson, Sr.,

D.D.
Rev. Carl Mclntire, D.D.
Rev. Roy T. Brumbaugh, D.D.
Rev. Francis A. Schaeffer
Elder Peter Stam, Jr., LL.D.
Rev. G. Douglas Young, Ph.D.
Rev. John W. Sanderson, Jr.

Stated Clerk
Rev. H. McAllister Griffiths, D.D.
Rev. G. Douglas Young, Ph.D.
Rev. G. Douglas Young, Ph.D.
Rev. G. Douglas Young, Ph.D.
Rev. Stanley P. Allen
Rev. Stanlev P. Allen
Rev. Stanlev P. Allen

Rev. Stanlev P. Allen

Rev. Robert Hastings
Rev. Robert Hastings
Rev. Robert Hastings
Rev. Robert Hastings
Rev. Robert Hastings
Rev. Robert Hastings

Rev. Robert G. Raybum, Th.D. Rev. Robert Hastings

Rev. William A. Mahlow
Rev. Linwood G. Gebb, D.D.

Rev. J. Oliver Buswell, Jr.,
D.D., Ph.D.

Rev. R. Laird Harris, D.D.,
Ph.D.

Rev. Robert Hastings
Rev. Robert Hastings
Rev. Robert Hastings

Rev. W. Harold Mare

Date

Place

1956

Collingswood, N.J.

1957

CoUingswood, N.J.

1958

Collingswood, N.J.

1959

Collingswood, N.J.

1960

Collingswood, N.J.

1961

Collingswood, N.J

1962

Collingswood, N.J

1963

Cape May, N.J.

1964

Cape May, N.J.

1965

Cape May, N.J.

Moderator
Rev. Carl Mclntire, D.D.

Rev. Clyde J. Kennedy, D.D.

Rev. Charles E. Richter, D.D.

Rev. Arthur G. Slaght, D.D.

Rev. John E. Janbaz

Rev. J. Philip Clark, D.D.

Rev. Albert B. Dodd, D.D.

Rev. George W. Fincke, Jr., D.D.

Rev. Lynn Gray Gordon, D.D.

Rev. Carl Mclntire, D.D. Litt.D.

Stated Clerk
Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
Assistant, Rev. Emanuel Peters
Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
Assistant, Rev. John E. Janbaz
Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
Assistant, Rev. John E. Janbaz
Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
Assistant, Rev. Robert B. Vandermey
Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
Assistant, Rev. Robert B. Vandermey
Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
Assistant, Rev. Robert B. Vandenney
Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
Assistant, Rev. Robert B. Vandermey
Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
Assistant, Rev. James Blizzard
Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
Assistant, Rev. James Blizzard
Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
Assistant, Rev. James Blizzard

Bible Presbyterian Synod Founded

On the evening of June 4, 1937, a small but
prayerful group of men met in one of t:he assem-
bly rooms of the St. James Hotel in Philadelphia,
Pa. After much waiting on the Lord and earnest
conference together those present formed them-
selves into "The Bible Presbyterian Synod."

At this meeting there was drawn up a docu-
ment entitled, "Articles of Association of the Bible
Presbyterian Fellowship," which was signed by
those present and, within a short time, by a few
others. The "Articles of Association" are as fol-
lows:

For the sake of fellowship in the principles
for which we stand, and as a testimony to our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and because of
the official apostasy of the Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A., and because of the departure of
the Presbyterian Church of America from the
historic position of American Presbyterianism,
we, a group of ministers and ruling elders, do
associate ourselves together in the Bible Presby-
terian Synod.

We believe the Scriptures of the Old and
New Testaments to be the Word of God, the
only infallible rule of faith and practice. We
reaffirm our faith in the system of doctrine set
forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith
and Catechisms in the form in which they stood
in the constitution of the Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A. in May, 1936. We propose to

amend these standards in any particular in
which the premillennial teaching of the Scrip-
tures mav be held to be obscured. We reaffirm
our belief in the fundamental principles of Pres-
byterian Church pohty.

We appoint as a convening committee for
the next meeting of the Bible Presbyterian
Synod the ministers in the Philadelphia area
who are signers of this document, and this com-
mittee shall have power to represent and act
for us, ad interim, in ecclesiastical matters, such
as the receiving and organizing of presbyteries
connected with the Synod, the receiving and
disbursing of funds, and other related matters,
with the provision that their acts in this capacity
shall be subject to review at our next Synod.

We heartily reaffirm our faith in and support
of The Independent Board for Presbyterian
Foreign Missions, and join in the vigorous testi-
mony of that Board against modernism and
unbelief of all kinds.

We are persuaded that the great battle in
the world today is the faith of our fathers versus
modernism, compromise, indifferentism, and
worldliness. With all our hearts we throw our
strength into the great task of winning lost souls
to Jesus Christ by the Gospel of the Grace of
God.
Those who framed these articles had been min-
isters of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
who had withdrawn from that body, and elders
who were in a like position. They had also been

members of the body then known as "The Presby-
terian Church of America," now called "The
Orthodox Presbyterian Church." They had with-
drawn from the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
because of its official apostasy and the recognition
of their duty not to remain in fellowship with a
church dominated by unbelief. They had entered
the then Presbyterian Church of America in the
hope that it would carry on the true spiritual
succession of American Presbyterianism.

This latter hope, those who formed the Bible
Presbyterian Church felt, had been frustrated by
tendencies within the then Presbyterian Church
of America which found more or less clear expres-
sion, both in official and nonofficial actions, at
the Third General Assembly of that body held
from June 1 through 4, 1937. Without impugning
the sincerity of those who dominated the then
Presbyterian Church of America, it was felt by
many that, due to a peculiar combination of cir-
cumstances, there was no possibility that that
body would ever become a widespread or effective
witness to the great spiritual succession of Ameri-
can Presbyterianism. It seemed to them that the
body was dominated by a small clique who were
determined to control it totally. This group repre-
sented, doubtless in all sincerity, a point of view
concerning the return of our Lord and concerning
the use of intoxicating liquors which it was felt
by many was both contrary to the Word of God
and calculated to prevent that church from ever
awakening a wide response in the hearts of Ameri-
can Christians. So, for the sake not only of the
principles at stake, but also with a view to the
need for the establishment of a great nation-wide
witness to the Word of God, there were many
who believed that the then "Presbyterian Church
of America" as it had existed up until that time
represented a "false start."

In order to accomplish the result originally in-
tended, to which they had been bound by most
solemn promises and by their loyalty to the truth
of God, they felt required to unite themselves in
a testimony which would be Scriptural and which
further would not offend the consciences of
American Christians by viewing with approval
practices which the Holy Spirit had led American
churches in the past emphatically to reject. The
men who had worked together until that time in
the then Presbyterian Church of America parted
from their brethren who felt differently, not in
anger, but in the profound conviction that they
could not remain in that fellowship and expect
the full blessing of God upon their labors.

The founders of the Bible Presbyterian Synod
blew no trumpets and beat no drums. They de-
sired only God's providential leading and to lay
the foundation for His work in the future with a
prayerful dependence upon His grace. Without
much to go on in the way of material resources,
quiet groundwork was laid between June, 1937,
and September, 1938, when the Bible Presbyterian
Synod met in the Bible Presbyterian Church of
Collingswood, New Jersey. There, after thorough
consideration and much prayer, the Synod
adopted a Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter
Cathechism, a Form of Government, and, pro-
visionally, a Book of Discipline. Concurrently, the
Synod resolved itself into "The First General
Synod" of the Bible Presbyterian Church. It
erected presbyteries and took other steps for the
promotion of the cause of the Gospel as God
should send the means.
— From Christian Beacon, August 31, 1939.

First General Synod

Collingswood, New Jersey, September 6-8, 1938

The First General Synod of the Bible Presby-
terian Church was convened in the new taber-
nacle building of the Collingswood Bible Presby-
terian Church, Collingswood, N. J., September 6,
7, and 8, 1938. A total of 39 ministers and 11 elders,
representing the Presbyteries of New Jersey, Great
Plains, Philadelphia Area, Great Lakes, Chicago
Bible Presbytery, Iowa, and California formed the
original roll. The Synod was convened in accord-
ance with the "Articles of Association of the
Bible Presbyterian Fellowship" drawn up in 1937
and which gave the basis of the foundation of the
church. The Committee on Arrangements con-
sisted of the Revs. Harold S. Laird, Carl Mclntire,
J. U. Selwyn Toms, H. McAllister Griffiths, and
Ruling Elder M. Stanley Black, M.D. The Rev. J.
U. Selwyn Toms was elected moderator and Dr.
H. McAllister Griffiths was elected stated clerk.

The Synod adopted the historic Westminster
Confession of Faith and Catechisms as subordinate
standards, second only to the Word of God upon
which the church is founded. Changes were made
in these documents to clarify the teaching con-
cerning the return of Jesus Christ to the earth so
as to bring them into accord with the Biblical
teaching of the premillennial return of Christ.
More men took part in the erection of these
standards than participated in the first Synod of

First Bible Presbyterian Synod, 1938

Front row — Ministers: Francis A. Schaeffer, M. Nelson
Buffler, J, U, Selwyn Toms, H. McAllister Griffiths, V. V. Wort-
man, Franic Hamilton. Second row — Ministers; Henry Welbon,
Robert Vining, Oscar T. Gillan, A. Franl<lin Faucette, James

W. Hanna, Fred A. Geisenheiner, Philip duB. Arcularius; rul-
ing elder: M. Stanley Black, M.D. Third row — Ministers:
Colin Weir, H. Blair Mclntire, Desmond Jones, Charles Dana
Chrisman, Carl Mclntire, Harold S, Laird, M. A. Pearson;
ruling elders: J. Herbert Rue, S. J. Glen. (Not all members
are shown in this photograph.)

1729 which started the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A.

The Form of Government was adopted, setting
forth the historic Presbyterian position of the
parity of the clergy and representative democracy.
Local congregations were given property rights,
and the right to withdraw from the fellowship at
any time for reasons sufficient unto themselves.

Resolutions adopted by the Synod concerned
church polity, church doctrine, and independent
agencies. Concerning church polity the Svnod in-
vited all Christians who find themselves unequally
yoked to unbelief to join the new testimony to
the Gospel; declared to be in good standing all
ministers now under Synod's jurisdiction who had
suffered censures of the Presbyterian Church in
the U.S.A.; and repudiated as unlawful and un-
christian the actions of the General Assemblies of
the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. taken
against the Southern brethren in 1861, 1865, 1866,
and 1867 in requiring them to submit their con-
science to the General Assembly.

Resolutions which dealt with church doctrine
took a strong stand as to the current issues which
had called the Bible Presbyterian Church into
being. A resolution concerning holiness of life
called all members of the Bible Presbyterian
Synod to a holy life separated from worldly prac-
tices and to give a testimony against sin. The
Synod adopted a resolution concerning the use of
intoxicating beverages, in keeping with the his-
toric position of American Presbyterianism. The

same resolution had been presented to the Pres-
byterian Church in America in 1937 and had been
voted down by that body. The question of the use
of intoxicating beverages was one of the issues
which brought about the establishment of the
Bible Presbyterian Synod. The resolution con-
cerning intoxicants was:

We, the members of this assembly, in the
interests of making clear our position on this
particular matter, namely, the question of a
Christian's relation to the use of intoxicating
beverages, and with no slightest intention of
setting ourselves up in judgment on the
conscience of any man where the Word of
God has not bound him, do desire to declare
that we deem it wise to pursue the course of
total abstinence: and furthermore, we lament
the widespread tendency of the American
people toward intemperance, and we are
unalterably opposed to the modem saloon
and the liquor traffic in general, which, as
now carried on, is associated with and leads
to sinful abuses, and is subversive of the
general welfare of society.
This resolution was in keeping with the pro-
nouncements of the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A. from 1811 to the turn of the century. The
first resolution in America on temperance in 1811
required ministers to preach often on the sin of
intemperance and to warn against the habits
which tend to produce it. Sessions Were enjoined
to exercise special vigilance over communicants

and this sin, and to endeavor by private warnings
and public censure "to purge the Church of a
sin so enonnous in its mischiefs and so disgraceful
to the Christian name." Officers and members
were urged to labor to reduce the number of
taverns and other places for the sale of liquor.
Every year up to 1894 the Assembly passed like
resolutions on this subject. Social reform was ad-
vocated. Temperance societies were advocated to
be formed in each congregation on the principle of
entire abstinence from the use of ardent spirits.
Conversion was declared to be the only hope of
true reform. Total abstinence from the use of
wines and liquors was urged bv the Assemblies of
1818, 1829, 1840, 1864, 1865, and 1887. The manu-
facture and sale of intoxicating drinks was con-
demned in 1830, 1834, 1837, 1865, 1877. The Pres-
byterian Women's Temperance Association was
indorsed in 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, and
1897. In 1892 and 1895, "A Summary of the De-
liverances of the Assembly on Temperance" was
ordered to be printed and distributed among the
people including all the deliverances of the past
80 years!

Concerning the return of the Lord Jesus Christ
to earth, the first General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church declared "that subscription to
our doctrinal standards upon the part of all office-
bearers shall be understood as leaving them and
our churches and members free to hold any escha-
tological view which includes the visible and per-
sonal return of our Lord to earth, and which is
not otherwise inconsistent with the system of
doctrine of the Bible and the Confession of Faith
and Catechisms of this Church." This resolution
was in direct contrast with the position of the
Presbyterian Church of America which had be-
come an amillennial church and had even attacked
the premillennial view of Christ's return. This
doctrine was another of the reasons for the estab-
lishment of the Bible Presbyterian Synod.

The Synod endorsed The Independent Board
for Presbyterian Foreign Missions and Faith
Theological Seminary and commended them to
Christians everywhere in order that these institu-
tions might receive support both in prayers and
gifts for continued growth.

A memorial resolution was adopted expressing
deep regret and sorrow at the passing of the Rev.
R. Jackson Vaughn, one of the original signers of
the Articles of Association of the Bible Presby-
terian Fellowship.

Second General Synod

Collingswood, New Jersey, November 14-16, 1939

In accordance with the authority granted by
the First General Synod, the Committee on Na-
tional Missions called the Second General Assem-
bly to convene on Tuesday, November 14, 1939, at
2:30 p.m. in the Bible Presbyterian Church of
Collingswood, N. J. The Rev. Harold S. Laird,
D.D., president of The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions, was unanimously
elected moderator, and the Rev. G. Douglas
Young, Ph.D., the stated clerk of the Synod. Elder
Peter Stam, Jr., served as vice-moderator.

The important item of business was the con-
sideration of the proposed Book of Discipline,
drafted and recommended by the Committee on
the Constitution, headed by the Rev. H. McAUis-
ter Griffiths, D.D., the clerk of the First General
Svnod. Chapters I and II of the Book of Discipline
were adopted.

The Synod now included nine presbyteries and
a total of 72 ministers had been received into the
church.

Fellowship and testimonies were emphasized
and took up most of the time for the Synod in
striking contrast to former political machinations
and mandates. Resolutions were adopted on The
Independent Board for Presbvterian Foreign Mis-
sions, Faith Theological Seminaiy, the Separated
Life, Intoxicating Beverages, and the Christian
Beacon.

Greetings were received from the continuing
Methodist Protestant Church, given by the Rev.
Newton C. Conant, and from the Independent
Fundamental Churches of America by letter from
the Rev. W. O. H. Garman. Corresponding mem-
bers were present from the Methodist Protestant
Church. The Ohio Regional Conference of the In-
dependent Fundamental Churches of America
wrote :

"One thing no doubt lies heavy upon the hearts
of all of us is that our fundamental brethren with-
drawing from their denominational affiliations
previously held have been forced by circumstances
to band themselves into so many little groups
which often maintain very little fellowship with
each other. The advisability of more concerted
action on the part of all these groups and a close
fellowship is no doubt apparent to all. . . .

"Our hearts were made glad by your refusal to
compromise your testimony and by your unswerv-
ing loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word
of God which to us has been one of the bright

Second General Synod, 1939

Front row — Henry G. Welbon, James W. Hanna, Elder J. G.
Howe, H. McAllister Griffiths, Harold S. Laird (moderator),
G. Douglas Young (clerk). J. R. Lebron-Velasquez, Francis A.
Schaeffer, J. U. Selwyn Toms. Second row — V. V. Wortman,
Elder Jofin K. Wilson, James W. Lipscomb, A. Franklin Fau-
cette, Elder Otto Meeuwsen, David K. Myers, R. Laird Harris,

Elder O. G. Davenport, M. Nelson Buffler, Elder J. Herbert
Rue, Elder M. D. Fuller. Third row — J. A. Van Gorkom,
Delbert B. Jorgensen, Elder Presley W. Edwards, Dwigfit 0.
Ghapin, Elder Peter W. Stam, H. Blair Mclntire, M. A. Pearson,
Carl Mclntire, Joseph F. Misicka, Philip duB. Arcularius, and
A. J. Koonce. (Several men in attendance are not in this
picture.)

spots in these dark days of apostasy and rampant
modernism."

The Synod recorded its sorrow at the loss of
the wisdom, sympathy, and services caused by the
Home-going of the Rev. Colin C. Weir of Wil-
mington, Delaware, May 2, 1939. The Rev. Mr.
Weir was a member of the Presbytery of the
Philadelphia Area who took an active part in the
struggle against modernism in the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A. Mr. Weir withdrew from
that church in 1936 when the Syracuse General
Assembly upheld the suspension of the members
of The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions and declared that this action was
blasphemous. He renounced at great personal cost
the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A. and was later deposed by that body. Mr.
Weir attended the First General Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church.

Third General Synod

Chester, Pennsylvania, October 22-24, 1940

The Third General Synod of the Bible Presby-
terian Church met in Chester, Pa., for a three-day
session devoted almost exclusively to Christian
fellowship, testimonies, prayer, and lengthy de-
votional periods. Only the most necessary business
was transacted. Dr. Allan A. MacRae, president of
Faith Theological Seminary, was unanimously
elected moderator, and the Rev. G. Douglas
Young was re-elected to serve as stated clerk of

the Synod. The Rev. M. Nelson Buffler was
elected to be assistant to the clerk.

At this Synod the consideration of the Book of
Discipline was continued and Chapters III to V
were adopted. Further consideration was left to
the next Synod.

An overture from the Great Plains Presbytery
on the dissolution of presbyteries that failed to
meet the requirements of the Form of Government
was reported by the Committee on Bills and Over-
tures favorably and this report was adopted. This
later caused the dissolution of presbyteries pre-
viously named.

Resolutions on The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions, Faith Theological
Seminary, Christian Beacon, the Separated Life,
and the use of intoxicating beverages, which had
been passed at previous Synods, were again
passed. The Rev. Philip duB. Arcularius of Pitts-
ton, Pa., presented the following resolution, which
was adopted:

Resolved, that this General Synod ap-
point a committee to negotiate with other
evangelical bodies not connected with the
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in
America, looking toward the establishment of
a truly Christian Council to represent them
publicly in matters of common interest and
concern.

This resolution was influential in leading to
the establishment of the American Council of
Christian Churches in 1941.

Third General Synod, 1940, which met in "The Old Mill," Chester, Pa.

The Synod, now composed of 84 pastors, met
in the Old Mill which served as the home of the
Bible Presbyterian Church of Chester, Pa. (Un-
affiliated). The report in the Christian Beacon,
October 31, 1940, said:

"The Old Mill in Chester is a three-storv brick
factory building, the first floor of which had been
cleared and made into a church auditorium. The
second floor still resounds with rumbling of
machines used in the manufacture of dresses. Into
these modest quarters, scarcely more than a year
old, many members of the Third Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) of Chester, followed the leader-
ship of their beloyed leader, Dr. A. L. Lathem, a
soldier of the cross, in walking out of the Third
Presbyterian Church because of modernism and
compromise. They established a true and pure
testimony, the Bible Presbyterian Church of Ches-
ter, Unaffiliated.

"The Old Mill was a most appropriate place in
which to hold the sessions of the Third General
Synod, for nearly every man present knew some-
thing of the privations which the congregation in
Chester is privileged to bear for Christ's sake.
Brethren attended from churches which meet in
halls, in stores, in factories, in homes, in reopened
closed churches, in tabernacles. Cod said, 'Come
out from among them, and be ve separate . . .
and touch not the unclean thing; and I . . . will
be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters.' The depth of that promise was appre-
ciated by the members of the Synod as they en-
joyed something of that sweet and precious fel-
lowship for which the heart of every true servant
of Christ yearns. The Gospel messages, the Bible
expositions, the time of fellowship in the Synod

stood out in bold contrast to the type of pro-
ceedings with which most had been familiar in
their previous associations. Here was a church
united in its testimony to the Word of God, en-
joying the rich blessings of Christian fellowship,
and being strengthened and encouraged bv the
Holy Spirit for aggressive evangelism and stead-
fastness in the battle for the faith. It was different,
it was fresh, it was true. Forty-nine delegates were
present, and they represented a church which is
truly a national church. Here was a fellowship of
men, who, for the sake of the Gospel, and in
obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, had suffered
greatly and endured persecution and trials."

The resolution on Religious Liberty, passed at
the Third Synod, October, 1940, stated:

Whereas, many feel that our civil liberties
are in danger and if they are taken from us,
no doubt our freedom to worship God and to
preach the true Gospel will be taken away
also;

Therefore, be it resolved hij the Bible Pres-
byterian Synod, that we urge all ministers,
elders, and churches to pray that, if it be
pleasing to the Lord, our present hberties
might be preserved to us, and to use every
legitimate Christian means to preserve our
present liberty to worship God and preach
the Gospel. If, in the providence of God, our
liberties should be taken away from us, let us
pray that God might give us the grace to
obey God rather than man.

The Independent Board, Faith Theological
Seminary, and Christian Beacon were recom-
mended to all ministers as suitable channels for

carrying on the work of the church and asked for
support.

"We thank God for the estabhshment of the
Christian Beacon and the news of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church contained therein."

The Christian Beacon also informed of the
death of one of the founders of the Bible Presby-
terian Church, the Rev. Fred A. Geisenheiner, a
faithful and active member of the Chicago Bible
presbytery since its original organization. Mr.
Geisenheiner died on August 29, 1939, at the age
of 66 vears.

Fourth General Synod

October 14-16, 1941, Charlotte, North Carolina

The Fourth General S\nod of the Bible Presby-
terian Church convened for a three-day session,
October 14-16, 1941, in the new church building of
the Bible Presbvterian Church of Charlotte, N.C.
The Rev. Edgar Archer Dillard, pastor of the host
church, was elected moderator of the Synod; the
Rev. G. Douglas Young was re-elected clerk, and
the Rev. Stanlev P. Allen, assistant clerk. On
Thursday, October 16, 1941, the annual women's
missionarv conference was held as in previous
years. This was the Synod's first meeting in the
South. An encouraging feature was the presence
of so many ministers of the Southern Presbyterian
Church.

Consideration of the Book of Discipline was
continued, beginning with Chapter VI and
carried through to Chapter X. The Book of Dis-

cipliiie was then adopted as a whole. This com-
pleted the adoption of the constitution of the
church.

The Moderator appointed the Rev. J. U. Sel-
wyn Toms to secure statistical material.

Resolutions previously passed were reaffirmed.
Others were adopted, including the approval of
the newh' fonned American Council of Christian
Churches, Harvey Cedars Bible Presbvterian Con-
ference, and the National Bible Institute. Quota-
tions from these resolutions follow.

Concerning the American Council of Christian
Churches the Synod said:

W^HEREAS, the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America does not ad-
equately represent historic Christianit\-; and

Whereas, because of its usurpation of all
free radio time allocated to religious work,
the fundamental principle of Americanism,
namely, freedom of religion and speech, is
fast becoming a thing of the past; and

Whereas, the American Council of Chris-
tian Churches is dedicated to the preaching
of the everlasting Gospel and to the proposi-
tion that this Gospel should be preached over
the air lanes;

Therefore, be it resolved that we com-
mend the American Council to our people for
their support, prayers, and interest.

Concerning the National Bible Institute, later
to become Shelton College, the Synod said:

Whereas, our brother and fellow presby-
ter. Dr. J. Oliver Buswell, Jr., has been called

Fourth General Synod, Charlotte, N. C, 1941

of the Lord to the presidency of National
Bible Institute in New York; and

Whereas, the Board of that institution has
testified to the fundamentals of the faith, in-
cluding the exclusive policy with regard to
apostate and modernistic denominations and
groups;

Therefore, be it resolved by this Synod
that we commend to the support and prayers
of the church the National Bible Institute of
New York City for the training of Christian
laymen.

Concerning Harvey Cedars Bible Presbyterian
Conference, purchased in May, 1941, the Synod
said:

Whereas, it is the express purpose of this
Conference to conduct a program of Bible
teaching and evangelism wherein the great
issues of the day are not obscured;

Therefore, the Synod commends the
Harvey Cedars Bible Presbyterian Confer-
ence to the support and prayers and atten-
dance of the church.

American Council

of Christian Churches,

formed September, 1941

The Fourth General Synod of the Bible Presby-
terian Church is over. It was a time of delightful
Christian fellowship and praise to God. A com-
pany of battle-scarred, bombed, and beaten serv-
ants of Christ were gathered together. Every
minister to a man had suffered at the hands of
ecclesiastical powers of the day, and yet all were
united in their testimony to Christ and in their
fellowship in the Spirit. It warmed the heart,
thrilled the soul, delighted the mind, for brethren
were dwelling together in unity — unity in doc-
trinal belief, unity in their convictions concerning
the need of Christ for our day, unity in their pur-
pose to establish a church, a true witness, without
the compromise of modernism in its fold.

The delegates came from far and near. The
democratic processes were honored. It seemed that
only a miracle of God's grace had produced such
a church in four short years. The genuine Southern
hospitality accorded to the delegates and visitors
by the folk of Charlotte was a pleasant and sweet
delight. Men left to go back to their places of
service inspired and with a greater vision of Christ

in all His holiness and purity as the only hope of
a lost world and a compromising church.

— Christian Beacon, October 23, 1941.

Fifth General Synod

St. Louis, Missouri, November 5-10, 1942

The Fifth General S^Tiod convened in the
Bible Presbvterian Church of St. Louis, Mo., No-
vember 5-10, 1942. The Rev. J. Gordon Holdcroft,
D.D., general secretary of The Independent Board
for Presbyterian Foreign Missions, was elected
moderator, and Elder Peter Stam of Wheaton,
111., the vice-moderator. The Rev. Stanley P. Allen,
pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church of Mer-
chantville, N. J., was made stated clerk, assisted
by the Rev. John M. L. Young, pastor of the
Bible Presbvterian Church of Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
The Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms ser\'ed as statistician.

Important actions included: defining the
boundaries of the ten presb^'teries; directing that
the Form of Government, the Westminster Con-
fession of Faith and Catechisms, the Book of Dis-
cipline and the standing rules be printed in pam-
phlet form; the adopting of a new set of standing
rules for the Synod; the setting up of the National
Missions Committee of the Svnod in a revised
form so that every presbyter)' has a representative
on the committee; the establishment of a Com-
mittee on Publications and a Committee on
Supplies as a part of the Committee on National
Missions; the appointment of a dav of praver for
the church; and the appointing of delegates to
represent the Synod in the American Council of
Churches.

Reports were heard from the following
approved agencies: The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions, Faith Theological
Seminary, Harvey Cedars Bible Presbyterian Con-
ference, Camp Hebron, and the National Missions
Committee. Faith Seminary, with a total of 55
students, reported that the Seminary had been
recognized by the Army and Navy Chaplains
Corps and has graduates in both services. Through
the American Council of Christian Churches, the
Seminary expects to receive other students. The
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Mis-
sions, in its first formal report to the Synod, re-
ported a steady increase in financial receipts from
1938 to 1942, and a total of 31 missionaries in
seven fields.

The ten Presbyteries whose boundaries were
defined and established were: Carolina, Philadel-

Fifth General Synod, St. Louis, Mo., 1942

Front row — W. G. Cross, V. V. Wortman, O. C. Bodle, J. G.
Ort, A. J. Dieffenbacher, Peter Stam, Jr., J. W. Sanderson, Jr.,
J. G. Holdcroft, S. P. Allen, J. M. L. Young, L. L. Donaldson.
R. H. Cox, H. J. Kallam. Second row — Ira Miller, D. C.
Chapin, R. V. Miller, A. F. Faucette, J. H. Greeley, Jr., W. H.

Chisholm, Adam Hunter, F. B. Toms, J. N. McConnell, Luther
Dalton. Third row — R. S. Wigfield, H. W. Veatch, A. B. Dodd,
P. duB. Arcularlus, R. Hastings, C. B. Annesley, G. W. OIney,
C. L. Campbell, J. K. Wilson, H. B. Mclntire, E. A. Dillard.
Fourth row — O. E. Cranmer, M. A. Pearson, R. K. Armes,
J. N. Woods, E. C. Comfort, a visitor, C. J. T. Straub, Frank
Fiol, J. E. Krauss, H. S. Laird, H. McA. Griffiths.

phia Area, New Jersey, Great Plains, Great Lakes,
Midwest, Midsouth, Pacific Northwest, and
Southern California.

The first resolution, a memorial on deceased
members, expressed thanks to Almighty God for
the faithful and effective witness of the Rev.
Andrew J. Koonce, of the Presbytery of the Great
Lakes; the Rev. Benjamin Mickle Brown, of the
Presbyterv of Chicago; the Rev. Alford Kelley, of
the Presbytery of the Philadelphia Area; and the
Rev. E. F. Trefz, of the Presbytery of Southern
California.

Previous resolutions concerning the approved
agencies were reaffirmed. A resolution on War
was sent to the President of the United States, the
Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the
Chiefs of Army and Navy Chaplains, and the press.
The resolution follows:

Whereas, the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America and other
apostate ecclesiastical bodies have taken, and
are now taking, a vacillating, pacifistic and
unscriptural attitude toward the present
world conflict, in which liberty, righteous-
ness, and the very existence of the church and
state are in jeopardy;

Therefore, be it resolved that the Fifth
Bible Presbyterian Synod go on public record
as urging the whole-hearted support of, and
the vigorous prosecution of the war to a
successful conclusion. We believe the Bible
teaches that a Christian not only may but

must wage war on just and necessary occa-
sions (Rom. 13:4; Judges 5:23; 1 Chron.
5:22), and we hold the present conflict to be
such an occasion.

(Romans 13:4 — ". . . For he is the minister of
God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil."

Judges 5:23 — "Curse ye Meroz, said the angel
of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants
thereof; because they came not to the help of
the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the
mighty."

1 Chronicles 5:22 — "For there fell down many
slain, because the war was of God.")

Sixth General Synod

Wilmington, Delaware, October 14-19, 1943

The Sixth General Synod met October 14-19,
1943, in the First Independent Church of Wilming-
ton, Del. A missionary conference was held on
Friday, October 15, 1943, under the auspices of
the Women's Missionary Society of the host
church. The Rev. Harold S. Laird, D.D., pastor of
the host church welcomed the Synod to the First
Independent Church of Wilmington.

Mr. Roland K. Armes, an elder in the West
Philadelphia Bible Presbyterian Church, was
unanimously elected moderator of the assembly

Sixth General Synod, 1943, Wilmington, Del.

and became the first elder in the history of the
church to moderate a general synod. The Rev.
Stanley P. Allen of Columbus, Ohio, was re-elected
stated clerk to serve a three-year term, and the
Rev. John M. L. Young of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., was
re-elected assistant clerk for a period of one year.
Other officers were: the Rev. John W. Sanderson,
Jr., vice-moderator; Elder Presley Edwards,
treasurer; and the Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms, stat-
istician.

The Sixth Synod passed strong resolutions on
current issues, calling upon Americans to return to
the God of the Bible and to turn from modernism
and unbelief. The commissioners also recorded
their recommendation that the Japanese Shinto
shrines be regarded as proper military targets, and
protested against Roman Catholic representation
at the peace table.

The Synod heard the report from its repre-
sentatives to the American Council of Christian
Churches and the Committee on Chaplains. The
need for a denominational chaplains' committee
was emphasized and illustrated. There are now
ten Bible Presbyterian ministers serving as
chaplains. The American Council's Commission on
Chaplains has given indispensable aid.

The Rev. Carl Mclntire, president of the
American Council of Christian Churches, reported
on the council's activities. He gave a short history
of the council and explained its relationship to the
National Association of Evangelicals. Mr. Mclntire

spoke of the rallies held by the council during the
past vear, and of plans for reaching laymen in
modernistic churches through similar rallies in
the future.

Dr. J. Gordon Holdcroft presented the report
for The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions and reported the safe arrival of
seven new missionaries in South America; one new
missionary for Africa; one new missionary for
India. The total number of missionaries now serv-
ing under the Board has reached 35. He reported
a new avenue of service in aiding in the rallies
sponsored bv the American Council of Christian
Churches, through which the Board has received
new contacts and enlarged its ministry. The Board
has given its general secretary and its field sec-
retary permission to give as much time as possible
to this work, since the Board reaches new contacts
through the ACCC.

The National Missions Committee reported
that it was assisting twice as many churches this
year as last, a total of 13 churches. The Committee
received $11,000 during the past year for its work.

For the first time the Synod statistician pub-
lished a report. The Synod now has 54 churches
and 101 pastors. Eleven new congregations were
added during the past svaiodical year.

A committee was appointed to set up a home
for the aged. The Synod also endorsed the Chris-
tian Beacon and recommended a committee of ten

to assist the paper in matters of promotional work
of the Bible Presbyterian Church.

Previous resolutions on the separated life, in-
toxicating beverages, religious liberty, war and
peace were reaffirmed, and the independent
agencies — The Independent Board for Presby-
terian Foreign Missions, Faith Theological Sem-
inary, the Christian Beacon, National Bible In-
stitute, and the American Council of Christian
Churches were endorsed.

Elder Roland K. Armes, Moderator of the Sixth
General Synod

Elder Roland K. Armes, Philadelphia, Pa.,
moderator of the Sixth General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church, had the high honor of being
the first layman or ruling elder to be elected to
this high office in the Bible Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Armes served as treasurer of Faith Theolog-
ical Seminary and of The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions for many years
and was well known as a humble, consecrated,
fearless, and lovable Christian layman.

Roland K. Armes, moder-
ator of the Sixth General
Synod and treasurer of
The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Mis-
sions and Faith
Theological Seminary

Mr. Armes attended a number of general as-
semblies of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
as a commissioner. For years he was clerk of the
Session of the Tenth Presbyterian Church and
chairman of its pulpit committee. He was one of
the founders of The Independent Board for Pres-
byterian Foreign Missions. He also helped found
Faith Theological Seminary and became its vice-
president and treasurer. He was one of the
founders of the Harvey Cedars Bible Presbyterian
Conference and was on its Board of Directors. He
saw clearly the issues involved in the theological
crisis of the Presbyterian Church and stood on the
side of God's Word, suffering misunderstanding
and loss.

Mr. Armes delivered the Commencement Ad-
dress at Faith Theological Seminary in 1942 en-
titled, "For the Faith — By Faith," which was
printed and distributed by the thousands for its
masterful review of the history of the conflict and
the presentation of the issues. Mr. Armes was one
of the elders raised up by God to lead and to rule.

Seventh Generol Synod

Greenville, South Carolina, October 12-17, 1944

Dr. J. Oliver Buswell, Jr., president of National
Bible Institute, New York City, was elected
moderator of the Se\'enth General Synod which
met in Greenville, S. C., October 12-17, 1944. Dr.
Buswell received the gavel from the retiring mod-
erator, Elder Roland K. Armes, who led the
Svnod's first worship service using as his text,
"Holding fast the profession of our faith."

The Svnod was held in the auditorium of the
Bible Presbyterian Church of Greenville, S. C, of
which Dr. Flournoy Shepperson, Sr., is pastor.

Elder Peter Stam, Jr., was appointed vice-
moderator. Stanley P. Allen continued as stated
clerk, while John E. Janbaz was elected assistant
clerk. The Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms continued to
serve as statistician.

Most significant of the actions taken by this
Svnod were the authorization for a general
secretary of the National Missions Committee, and
for a quarterly magazine devoted to the interests
of yoinig people's societies of the church; setting
up of a Foreign Missions Committee to co-operate
with The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions, and of a news bureau to gather and
disseminate news to the religious and secular
press; and a resolution calling upon individuals
and churches within the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America to leave the organ-
ization, but expressing an attitude of friendship to
any within such denominations who are actively
engaged in opposing modernism and inclusive
tendencies.

A memorial minute concerning the life, work,
and death of Arthur Dieffenbacher was prepared
by Dr. Harold S. Laird, and unanimously passed
by the Synod. Chaplain Dieffenbacher was killed
in action in Normandy this year.

The Chaplains Committee reported eight
Bible Presbyterian chaplains in the Army and
four in the Navy, the success being due to the
American Council of Christian Churches' Com-
mission on Chaplains.

Delegates to the Seventh General Synod, Greenville, S. C, October 12-17, 1944

The National Missions Committee reported
that 18 churches are now being assisted by the
committee and urged that students under care of
presbytery spend summers in the work of the
National Missions Committee.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions reported four new missionaries.

The statistician reported that the Bible Presby-
terian Church had grown to a total of 121 min-
isters and 65 churches.

The minutes of the Seventh General Synod
reported a matter of importance for the future
progress and strength of the church:

"To further promote the interests of our church,
this General Synod recommends to the moderator
and to the nominating committee of each succeed-
ing Synod the placing of some of the younger men
on the small committees of Synod; that, if neces-
sary, these committees be enlarged by one or two
members in order to provide for the training of
the young men."

A resolution passed by the Synod endorsed
work among the Jewish people:

Whereas, our brother and fellow presby-
ter, the Rev. Philip duB. Arcularius, is en-
gaged in a faith work separate from other
agencies endeavoring to evangelize the Jews:

Whereas, this work maintains our testi-
mony against apostasy,

Therefore be it resolved that we commend
this work among the Jews to the prayers and
gifts of our people.

The following memorial to Arthur J. Dieffen-
bacher was placed in the Synod's minutes:

The Rev. Arthur J. Dieffenbacher was
bom in Titusville, Pa., April 29, 1909. He
early gave his heart to Christ. Following his
public school education, he entered a local
college in Erie, Pa., where he studied for
two years, then entered Grove City College
for the junior and senior years. Upon his
graduation from college, he entered Dallas

Chaplain Arthur Dieffen-
bacher — Killed in Action
in Normandy

Theological Seminary, where he completed
his training for the ministry of the Gospel. In
both college and seminary he proved to be
zealous in his Christian life and testimony, as
well as in his scholastic activities, in which
he excelled.

Soon after graduation from seminary, Mr.
Dieffenbacher was ordained to the Christian
ministry and sailed for China. There, for

eight years, he served with devotion, first
under the China Inland Mission and then
later, after his marriage to Miss Junia White,
under The Independent Board for Presby-
terian Foreign Missions. It was during his
service in China that he became affiliated
with the Bible Presbyterian Church.

During Mr. Dieffenbacher's prolonged
furlough from the field due to the war, in
June of 1943 he offered his services and was
accepted as a chaplain in the United States
Army. Soon after the completion of his train-
ing, he was sent to England with the United
States Expeditionary Force. Mr. Dieffen-
bacher's regiment took part in the invasion of
Normandy, where, in connection with the
carrying out of his duties, he was instantly
killed by German artillery fire.

Though in the service but a short time,
he served both his country and his Lord
faithfully and with a marked degree of
success. It is definitely known that he was
used of God in leading a large number of
his fellow-soldiers to Christ.

In the death of Mr. Dieffenbacher, the
Synod has suffered a great loss, and we deeply
mourn his departure, but rejoice in his great
gain. We thank God for the contribution Mr.
Dieffenbacher has made to the testimonv of
the Bible Presbyterian Church. He faithfullv
served for a number of months the Cincinnati
Bible Presbyterian Church. He also made a
real contribution in the writing of a splendid
pamphlet on, "Infant Baptism, What Saith
the Scriptures?" His personal life and activit)'
in our church will continue to be an inspira-
tion to many of us as long as we live. Our
hearts go out in deepest sympathy to the
members of his family, and we affectionately
commend them to the love and care of the
Heavenly Father who in His own infinitely
wise providence has called His servant Home.

Eighth General Synod

Harvey Cedars Bible Presbyterian Conference,

Harvey Cedars, New Jersey, May 24-29, 1945

Notable progress in Bible Presbyterian
churches was indicated in reports given at the
Eighth General Synod of the church in Harvey
Cedars, N. J., May 24-29, 1945. The Synod proved
to be one of the most profitable in the history of
the church. Dr. Floumoy Shepperson, Sr., pastor of

the Bible Presbyterian Church of Greenville, S.
C, was elected moderator on a white ballot. Other
officers of the Synod were: the Rev. Francis A.
Schaeffer, vice-moderator; the Rev. Stanlev P.
Allen, clerk; the Rev. Robert Hastings, assistant
clerk; Elder Presley Edwards, treasurer; and the
Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms, statistician.

Among the actions of the Synod, the commis-
sioners passed a unanimous resolution defining
their attitude toward separation; set up com-
mittees on Sunday School work and finance; and
sent greetings to the Reformed Episcopal Church
which had just left the Federal Council, and to
the newly established Chilean National Presby-
terian church which was formed as a protest
against modernism on the mission field.

Bible messages delivered during the sessions
of the Synod centered around the pastor in his
various fields of activity: the Pastor and the
Business World, the Pastor and Foreign Missions,
the Pastor and Home Missions, the Pastor and the
Young People, the Pastor and Radio.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions reported new friends won in four
conferences held in Detroit, Philadelphia, Wilkes-
Barre, and St. Louis. The financial income for
1944 was greater than before, making a consist-
ent increase in gifts for the past five years.
Thirteen new missionaries brought the total num-
ber of missionaries to 52. The special event of the
\'ear was the development in Chile, another wit-
ness to the fact that the struggle for a pure Chris-
tianity is world-wide in our day. What happened
in the United States in 1936 was duplicated in
Chile in 1944. The methods used by the U.S.A.
Presbytery in Chile paralleled the methods of
the U.S.A. General Assemblies of 1934, 1935, and
1936 — and issued in the same results — the "cen-
suring" of men who put the Word of God above
the commands of men; and then, to the honor of
those men and the praise of God, the formation
of a new testimony. From one missionary couple,
two ordained Chilean pastors, and 13 stalwart
churches and groups in a territory 500 miles long,
a Macedonian cry was directed to The Independ-
ent Board for Presb)i:erian Foreign Missions. The
Independent Board thanked God and took
courage as did the stalwart fundamental Chris-
tians who withdrew from the old Presbyterian
Church and formed a new testimony — Calvin-
istic, fundamental, premillennial and evangelistic.

The National Bible Institute reported the com-
pletion of the reorganization which was contem-
plated from the time when the new administration

Eighth General Synod, Harvey Cedars, N. J., 1945
Front row — John G. Crane, Sr., Jack W. Murray, Francis A.
Schaeffer, Presley W. Edwards, Allan A. MacRae, Thomas A.
Lambie, Flournoy Shepperson, Sr., T. F. Armour, Albert B.
Dodd, Luther L. Young, J. Gordon Holdcroft, Harold S. Laird.
Second row — Irwin W. Steele, William M. Irving, Jr., Otto
Meeuwsen, Flournoy Shepperson, Jr., Thomas Cross, Robert
D. Kutz, C. J. T. Straub, Winslow Collins, John E. Addy,
Robert H. Cox, John M. L. Young, E. Archer Dillard, Ray
Wallace, Howard Oakley, Archie Shelor. Third row — Earle
R. White, Lester R. Bachman, Robert Hastings, Paul Moore,

Clarence Laman, William H. Chlsholm, J. U. Selwyn Toms, F.
Burton Toms, Roland K. Armes, J. Philip Clark, Herbert J.
Anderson. Fourth row — Samuel E. Arendt, Harold Stigers,
Calvin Harrah, Henry G. Welbon, John W. Sanderson, Jr.,
Clyde J. Kennedy, Charles E. Richter, F. Baird Enlow, G. W.
OIney, Samuel W. Saye. Back row — John K. Wilson, Oscar
E. Cranmer, A. Franklin Faucette, Philip duB. Arcularius,
Harry W. Veatch, Stanley P. Allen, Willard O. Armes, Kenneth
A. Horner, Jr., William Floge, Paul Thommen, William A. Mah-
low, Edward B. Roper, M. A. Pearson, Charles Guenther, R.
V. Miller.

was called to take charge of its affairs. The report
stated: "This reorganization was effected both in
the Board of Directors and in the Faculty, so
that now, we believe, both are free from any
entangling alliances with denominational or inter-
denominational bodies which are not wholly com-
mitted to the complete integrity of the Word of
God and to the necessity of living a life of obedi-
ence to its commands, both in regard to holiness
of life and in regard to separation from unbelief."

After the organizational changes were made,
there were fully as many students in the day
school as the previous year, and more in the night
school than the previous year. "This shows, we
believe, that God has given His approval to these
changes."

A plan was put into operation by which work
could be taken at New York University which
would lead to a B.A. degree from that University
as well as to graduation from the Institute. The
Institute also reported that the debt of $600,000
had been greatly reduced the past year.

The Committee on a Home for the aged recom-
mended that a Board of Trustees be set up to re-
ceive properties, monies, and gifts. An ad interim
committee was appointed to study the matter and
receive property or suggested location for the
establishment of a Home.

The Synod passed the following resolutions:

"Resolved that this Synod express its apprecia-
tion to President Truman for his recognition of the
Lord in connection with his inauguration and for
his proclamation of a special Day of Prayer in
connection with his announcement of the victory
in Europe."

"Whereas, the United States has always stood
for separation of Church and State, we respect-
fully request President Truman to withdraw Presi-
dent Roosevelt's personal representative to the
Vatican."

Concerning separation from apostasy, the
Synod said:

We hold that it is a Christian's duty to
separate himself from all co-operation in re-
ligious activities with those who deny the
full authority and dependability of the Word
of God, and that no consideration of ex-
pediency could ever warrant such co-opera-
tion.

As concerns co-operation with those who,
while themselves believing in the fundamen-
tal doctrines of the Christian faith, continue
in membership in denominations which in-
clude known unbelievers, and fail to see
clearly and to observe fully the Scriptural

injunction to separate themselves from such
organizations, we hold that this is a sphere of
expediency, that is, one in which no man's
conscience may be bound by other men;
however, we as a Synod feel that great harm
is done in many cases by such co-operation,
and hence that it is unwise to enter upon
or continue in them without careful considera-
tion.

Regarding such individuals as are de-
scribed in paragraph one, we should seek by
every possible means to win them to Christ;
regarding such individuals as are described
in paragraph two, we urge that they be dealt
with in a spirit of brotherly love, seeking by
every proper means to win them to the
Scriptural position of separation rather than
to drive them from us, and yet not violating
our conscience.

The statistician reported 56 churches, 40 un-
affiliated churches, and a total of 133 ministers in
the Bible Presbyterian fellowship.

Ninth General Synod

Collingswood, New Jersey, May 23-28, 1946

The Ninth General Synod held its sessions in
the tabernacle of the Bible Presbyterian Church of
Collingswood, N. J., May 23-28, 1946. The Rev.
Carl Mclntire, pastor of the Colhngswood Bible
Presbyterian Church, was unanimously elected
moderator of the Synod. The Rev. Charles Richter,
assistant to Mr. Mclntire, served as vice-moder-
ator; the Rev. Robert Hastings was clerk, and the
Rev. John E. Janbaz the assistant clerk; Elder

Presley W. Edwards was treasurer, and the Rev.
J. U. Selwyn Toms continued as statistician.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions reported a total of 59 missionaries,
12 new ones having been sent out during the past
year. Seven missionary conferences were held this
year, and the Bible Presbyterian Churches were
growing in their foreign missions giving. The year
1946 marked the tenth anniversary of the disciplin-
ing of The Independent Board members. Also in
this year the Board of Foreign Missions of the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. gave evidence
of deeper apostasy in furnishing the president for
a modernistic seminary and announced to its mis-
sions:

"The Board records its deep satisfaction that
one of its members, the Rev. Dr. Henry P. Van
Dusen, Chairman of the Foreign Committee, has
been installed as the new president of the Union
Theological Seminary, New York. In congratulat-
ing Dr. Van Dusen on his elevation to one of the
most important positions in the Christian Church
in our time, the Board rejoices that one so in-
fluential as he in the councils of the Church Uni-
versal and so deeply and intelligently devoted to
the cause of foreign missions should now be the
executive head of this great theological institution
which a large number of missionaries belonging
to the Presbyterian and other churches delight to
call their Alma Mater. His fellow members on the
Board of Foreign Missions earnestly pray that
God may give Dr. Van Dusen many years of crea-
tive leadership in his new office and make him
His chosen instrument to direct the thought of
Christian youth to the needs of Christ's Kingdom
beyond the frontiers of the nation."

Ninth General Synod, Collingswood, N.J. , 1946

The Rev. John M. L. Young and the Rev. Carl
Mclntire, delegates to the American Council of
Christian Churches, reported on the various needs
of the Council and its program, and emphasized
especiallv the new Evangelical International Sun-
day School Lessons which are being undertaken
by the ACCC. The Committee on Chaplains also
reported, and five chaplains who were present
gave their testimonies. The Committee was
authorized to handle other chaplaincy matters —
industrial, veterans' administration, prison chap-
lains, and other fields. The ACCC was scheduled
to have its second series of broadcasts on the
Mutual System during the month of June.

The National Missions Committee reported
an increase in receipts and that 20 churches are
now being helped. The Committee asked for a
full-time secretary. Synod suggested to the
churches that they endeavor to give as much to
national missions each year as they give to foreign
missions.

Faith Theological Seminary, an institution
which occupies a key position in the Twentieth
Centurv Reformation Movement, reported a total
of 60 students. Six of these are women students to
whom the degree of M.R.E. is to be granted. The
Seminarv announced its plan to offer the Th.D.
in the field of Old Testament.

The Committee on a Home for the aged re-
ported: "No doubt we have all realized that one of
the greatest needs of the Bible Presbyterian move-
ment is a home or homes to which those who are
treading the western slope of life may go. For the
last two or three years Synod has discussed this
matter at some length; therefore, at the Eighth
General Synod an ad interim committee was
appointed to study out the whole matter." It was
decided that homes for the aged would be set up
as independent agencies, in keeping with the
policy of the Synod.

The theme of the Synod was "Church Build-
ing" and Bible messages centered around this
theme. The Synod now is composed of eight
presbyteries and 143 ministers.

This Synod passed a resolution concerning
free radio time for the American Council of Chris-
tian Churches as follows:

Whereas, the American Council of Chris-
tian Churches at its session in Minneapolis,
Minn., May 9-12, 1946, adopted a certain
resolution dealing with "radio"; and

Whereas, the Bible Presbyterian Synod
is fully cognizant of the need to keep the true
Gospel on the air;

Be it hereby resolved that if there is any
free radio time available or offered by radio
broadcasting stations that the Bible Presby-
terian Synod and other groups represented
by the ACCC obtain a fair and equal portion
of the time allotted for true Gospel broad-
casting; and in cases where radio broadcasting
stations are unreasonably or capriciously cen-
soring, controlling, limiting, or selecting the
nature, type, or volume of either paid or
sustaining religious programs that not only
should remedial legislation be supported but
any other available legal actions should be
taken where possible to prevent the con-
tinuance of such actions.

Tenth General Synod

Tacoma, Washington, July 17-22, 1947

Climaxing ten years of exciting church history,
the General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church held its sessions, July 17-22, for the first
time in the Pacific Northwest, in the Tacoma
Bible Presbyterian Church.

Sixty-nine delegates from 23 states and three
foreign countries came by bus, train, car, plane
from New York, Florida, Texas, California, North
Dakota, Missouri — coming from churches which
in the past ten years have "come out" in obedience
to the blessed commands of the Lord Jesus Christ
— out from apostasy, out from the unequal yoke
with modernism, out into halls, homes, tents, new
churches, even the open air, that they might raise
up true and Biblical churches according to the
commands of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Church's
Head.

Dr. Roy Talmage Brumbaugh, evangelistic
pastor and vigorous contender for the faith, pastor
of the Tacoma Church, was unanimously elected
moderator. Elder Roland K. Armes served as vice-
moderator. The Rev. Robert Hastings continued
as clerk assisted by the Rev. A. Franklin Faucette.
Elder Reginald S. Wigfield of Collingswood was
elected treasurer, and the Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms
continued as statistician.

The high light of the meeting came in the
recognition given to the resolution concerning the
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in
America by the president of the Federal Council,
Mr. Charles P. Taft. The resolution, having been
given wide publicity by the Associated Press, led
a representative of the Associated Press to contact
Mr. Taft in Quebec, Canada, and drew from him

'-•-*,^l?i^

Tenth Synod, Tacoma, Wash., 1947

Bible Presbyterian Church, Tacoma, Wash.,
Roy T. Brumbaugh, pastor

his reply. The resolution of the General Synod
spoke of the Federal Council as modernist, near-
Communist, and radical pacifist. Mr. Taft's reply
elicited from the Synod another resolution de-
nouncing the first Conference of the Federal
Council on the Church and Economic Life held
in Pittsburgh in February.

Numerous resolutions were adopted. One com-
mended the stand of Perry Rockwood in the Pres-
byterian Church of Canada. Another pointed out
the rising power of the Roman Church and the
iniquity of the Marian Conference in Ottawa. The
Synod called on the President of the United States
to withdraw Mr. Taylor from the Vatican, and
sent a telegram to Dr. W. B. Riley, pastor emeritus
of the First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, congrat-
ulating him on his letter of resignation from the
Northern Baptist Convention and his reference
in that letter to the action of the late Henry B.
Crowell in withdrawing from the Fourth Presby-

terian Church of Chicago and the U.S.A. denomi-
nation because of the modernism in the U.S.A.
Church. Another telegram was dispatched to the
board of directors and the editor of the Sundat/
School Times asking them to reconsider their
recent announced decision not to continue the
American Council's Sunday School lessons in
1948. A telegram was addressed to the Secretary
of War thanking him for including a representa-
tive of the ACCC in the tour of Europe which he
arranged for representative clergymen in the
country.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions reported an increase in total re-
ceipts and a total of 65 missionaries. The Board's
report emphasized its stand for the Biblical
message, Biblical methods of work, Biblical sep-
aration, and a Biblical life of holiness.

All the aspects of the church's work were
thoroughly discussed with reports from all the
agencies approved by the Synod. The Synod is
now composed of 159 ministers in nine presby-
teries. The number of communicants grew from
2,168 in 1940 to 6,834 in 1946.

Its Tenth Anniversary Resolution said:

Whereas, God in His providence, upon
the basis of the Bible as the Word of God,
has raised the issue of separation of His
people from apostasy and that form of un-
belief known at modernism, using as His in-
struments the late Dr. J. Gresham Machen,
the late Dr. Robert Dick Wilson, and others;
and

Whereas, out of this conflict the Bible
Presbyterian Church has been raised up to
implement this witness to "the Word of God
and the testimony of Jesus Christ," and

through these ten years of proch\iming the
Gospel of salvation, and earnestly contending
for the faith once for all delivered to the
saints against apostasy, radicalism, and paci-
fism of the denominations crystallized in the
propaganda of the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America; and

Whereas, in the past ten years the condi-
tions against which the protest was made have
become increasingly worse, and signers of the
Auburn Affirmation, which heretical docu-
ment denying the essentialness of the funda-
mentals of the faith was a critical factor in
the whole controversy, have actually been
elected to the position of moderator of the
Presbyterian Church of the U.S.A., and this
position has also become the position of the
World Council of Churches; and

Whereas, there has been no recognition
or confession of the sin of the Presbyterian
Church of the U.S.A. in the official judicial
decision of the General Assembly of 1936 in
suspending, deposing, and forbidding to
partake of the Communion ministers of the
Gospel who chose to obey the commands of
Jesus Christ rather than the Assembly's
mandate of 1934;

Whereas, God has used the Bible Presby-
terian Church and its leaders to build true
churches from coast to coast, to clarify in the
minds of Bible believers the issues of
obedience versus expediency, to establish
Bible conferences, to bring into being Faith
Theological Seminary, to further Biblical mis-
sions, and to assist in the establishment of the
American Council of Christian Churches;

Therefore, be it resolved that we humbly
thank Almighty God for all these blessings.
To Him alone be the glory! We solemnly re-
affirm the rightness and Scriptural necessity
of that position of separation from iniquity
which we took (2 Cor. 6:14-18); and

Be it further resolved that we call upon
God's people everywhere to "cease from man"
(Isa. 2:22), from expediency of self-interest,
from opinions of man that flatly contradict
the plain teaching of the Bible, and from the
fear of man that brings a snare, and to join
with churches that hold and maintain Scrip-
tural principles of separation, to obey God
rather than man, and to cease from com-
promise with unbelief.

Quotation from a resolution on the Federal
Council of the Churches of Christ in America
adopted by this Synod:

Mr. Charles P. Taft, president of the
Federal Council, in his acceptance speech,
Seattle, Washington, December 6, 1946,
openly rejected the great evangelical doctrines
which have given to America the Protestant
churches. He said: "The evangelicals of the
revival a hundred years ago emphasized the
personal depravity of each man — only con-
version of a kind that is fixed as an identifi-
able moment, the vicarious atonement of
Jesus and the justification that comes com-
pletely disassociated from anything else the
sinner does can save any of us. The belief in
the verbal inspiration of the Bible made a
pretty complete whole. All of which can still
be found in the new churches at which we
are accustomed to look a little down our noses
—even though we may be convinced it is not a
solution." The election of such a man to the
presidency of the organization that pretends
to speak for Protestantism in America, even
though he challenges the basic doctrines of
the historic Christian faith while recognizing
that they were used a hundred years ago to
bring a revival to our land, but today are not
the solution, is evidence beyond dispute of
the modernism and apostasy that dominate
this church council. Their social gospel has
become their substitute for the historic Gospel
of redemption revealed in the Bible.

Dr. Roy Talmage Brumbaugh
Moderator of the Tenth General Synod

Dr. Roy Talmage Brumbaugh, pastor of the
Tacoma Bible Presbyterian Church, was elected
moderator of the Tenth General Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church meeting in Tacoma.
Dr. Brumbaugh began his ministry in Atlanta, Ga.,
was called to the First Presbyterian Church of
Coatesville, Pa., and then to the Wanamaker
Church, the Bethany Presbyterian Church of
Philadelphia. In 1930 he moved to Tacoma as
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. As a
result of the conflict over The Independent
Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions of
which Dr. Brumbaugh was a charter mem-
ber, he renounced the jurisdiction of the Pres-
bytery and established the Independent Bible
Church of Tacoma, which later became the

Roy Talmage Brumbaugh,

moderator of

Tenth General Synod

Tacoma Bible Presbyterian Church. Dr. Bnim-
baugh is a strong evangehstic pastor, and through
his ministry during the war years more than
2,000 servicemen were led to accept Christ as
their personal Saviour. Dr. Brumbaugh also was
one of the men who established Faith Theological
Seminarv in 1938. He is the author of more than
13 booklets and contributed a weekly column in
the Tacoma Times.

Eleventh General Synod

Nashville, Tennessee, May 13-19, 1948

The Eleventh General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church met in the Bible Presbyterian
Church of Nashville, Tenn., May 13-19, 1948. The
Rev. Francis A. Schaeffer was elected moderator,
and the Rev. Fred Stroud, pastor of the host
church, was appointed vice-moderator. Mr.
Schaeffer was the youngest man ever to be named
moderator, and the first graduate of Faith The-
ological Seminar\' to hold the office. He had been
touring the countrv as the American representa-
tive of the Foreign Relations Department of the
American Council of Christian Churches. The
Rev. Robert Hastings continued as stated clerk
assisted by the Rev. A. Franklin Faucette. The
Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms continued as statistician.
Fiftv-one ministers and 23 elders were enrolled as
delegates representing churches.

Each evening over Station WLAC, 50,000
watt local station, the Rev. Carl Mclntire pre-
sented a message on the general subject, "Russia's
Most Effective Fifth Column in America," in
which he dealt with the Federal Council of
Churches and its program of socialism. The topics
of the five messages were: "Destroying America's
Free Economy,"' "The Infiltration of Communist
Ideas into the Federal Council of Churches and
Sunday School Literature," "Substituting Karl

Marx for Jesus Christ," "The Drive for World
Socialism through the World Council of
Churches," and "Witch Hunting and the Origin of
the So-Called Civil Rights Program."

The American Council of Christian Churches,
meeting in Detroit, Mich., in September, 1947,
had issued an International Call to set up an in-
ternational council of Christian churches. This
call was sent to all Bible-believing churches
throughout the world. The Bible Presbyterian
S\'nod voted to participate in the formation of such
a Council and elected four delegates to act for
that body: the Rev. Carl Mclntire, the Rev.
Francis A. Schaeffer, Dr. J. Gordon Holdcroft, and
Dr. Thomas A. Lambie.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Nfissions announced its continued growth. It
is now represented on 12 fields of the world. The
Board had named delegates from the Board mem-
bers or from the missionary personnel of the
Board to represent it in Amsterdam, Holland,
August 12-19, 1948, at the formation of the pro-
posed council.

The Rev. Thomas Cross was elected to be
general secretary of the National Missions Com-
mittee and reported that 19 different pastors had
been aided bv the Committee. A publication,
National Missions Reporter, was presented to the
Synod.

The committee appointed to investigate the
possibilitv of a Home for the aged was instructed
to continue.

Considerable discussion was held over plans
for co-operation with the Navajo Bible Training
School and Mission in Arizona. Several Bible
Presbvterian ministers were working with the
Mission and serving as missionaries to the Navajos.
The matter was held over for further action by the
next Synod.

A memorial minute expressing gratitude for
the clear testimony, manifold contributions, and
spiritual blessings that have come to the church
through the ministiy of Dr. Charles Gordon Ster-
ling was passed. Dr. Sterling was one of the
founders of the Bible Presbyterian Synod and a
member of the faculty of Faith Theological
Seminary in its initial year. Dr. Sterling departed
to be with the Lord on February 26, 1948, at the
age of almost 89.

The following resolution concerning the pro-
posed international council of Christian churches
was also passed:

Whereas, the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America is leading in

Eleventh General Synod, Nashville, Tenn., 1948

the organization of the World Council of
Churches in Amsterdam in August of this
year; and

Whereas, the American Council of Chris-
tian Churches has issued a call to Bible-
believing churches of the world to unite in
the formation of an international council of
Christian churches also to meet in Amsterdam
during the same month; and

Whereas, the Bible Presbyterian Church
is committed to the principles of the American
Council of Christian Churches, upon which
principles the international council of Chris-
tian churches is to be founded;

Therefore, be it resolved that we commend
the international council of Christian churches
to the membership and friends of our church
for their prayers and practical support.

Twelfth General Synod

Baltimore, Maryland, May 16-31, 1949

The Twelfth General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church at Baltimore, Md., May 26-31,
1949, was greatly stirred to a wider home missions
task in the presentation of the report of the
National Missions Committee and put into effect
a plan to implement that vision in the appointment
of its first full-time general secretary.

In support of its stand for separation from all
unbelief and modernism the Synod elected Ruling
Elder Peter Stam, Jr., as moderator. Dr. Stam was
one of the earlier members and a leader in the
movement which led to the founding of The
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Mis-

sions and Faith Theological Seminary. He was the
second layman to be elected to this position.

Dr. Robert G. Rayburn, Wheaton, 111., was
appointed vice-moderator, and the Rev. Robert
Hastings was elected stated clerk, with the Rev.
Kenneth A. Horner, Jr., assistant clerk. Host
churches were the South Baltimore Bible Church,
the Rev. Arthur G. Slaght, pastor, and the First
Bible Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Thomas G.
Cross, pastor.

The Synod adopted several recommendations
presented by the National Missions Committee.
It unanimously approved the action of the Com-
mittee in making the Rev. Thomas G. Cross its first
general secretary and establishing Committee
headquarters in Wilmington, Del. Mr. Cross
planned to give a large portion of his time to
encouraging the setting up of Bible Presbyterian
Churches where requests and openings appeared.
The organization of a Canadian Bible Presbyterian
Church was expected soon.

Progress in all departments of the church was
noted. Membership, churches, giving both to home
and foreign missions — all showed a remarkable
increase.

As one of its constituent members, the Synod
also looked back to the founding of the Inter-
national Council of Christian Churches and
rejoiced in the outreach of the separated testi-
mony into the world level. The Independent
Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions reported
the greatest advance of its history in the establish-
ment of missions on every continent but Australia.
The Board was honored because the four Bible
Presbyterian delegates sent to Amsterdam to
attend the organizational meeting of the Inter-
national Council of Christian Churches were all
connected with the Board. Of these four delegates,

Twelfth General Synod, Baltimore, Md., 1949

three were elected to the executive committee of
the ICCC. The world-wide cause and connections
with other Bible-believing churches elicited this
statement, "All this emphasizes the absolute
necessity of such general organizations as the
ACCC and the ICCC if we are to maintain and
strengthen the cause to which we have put our
hands throughout the world."

The Synod endorsed the ICCC's testimony,
preamble, and doctrinal statement, and declared
its continued participation as a charter member
in the Council to which it offered its fullest co-
operation and support. The ICCC was commended
to be placed in the missionary budget of Bible
Presbyterian churches.

A board of trustees was formed from members
of the Bible Presbvterian Church and incorporated
under the name, "Bible Presbyterian Home, Inc."
The Rev. Clarence Laman was invited, with Mrs.
Laman, to become the superintendent and assist-
ant superintendent of the Bible Presbyterian
Home, "Evening Rest," in Delanco, N. J.

Resolutions were adopted concerning socialized
medicine, keeping the Lord's Day, peace and
unity of the church, the reading of the Bible in
the public schools, separation from the Federal
Council, the policy of the State Department in
regard to China, and approved agencies of the
church. The Synod endorsed the application of
the Rev. John M. Norris for a nonprofit Christian
radio station in Red Lion, Pa., and commended
Dr. Alexander A. Murray of Sydney, Nova Scotia,
for his firm and fearless stand in resigning from
the Presbyterian Church in Canada and with-
drawing, together with his entire congregation.

The Synod's resolution on the reading of the
Bible in public schools follows:

Whereas, there is a determined effort on
the part of certain groups across the country

directed toward exclusion of the reading of
the Bible from the public schools,

Therefore, be it resolved by this Twelfth
General Svnod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church that we call to the attention of the
governors and legislatures of the several states
the fact that the blessings of liberty which
our country enjoys are the direct result of
the influence of the Word of God and that
we urge that its reading in the public schools
of our land be continued.

Since for several years there has been a feeling
of a real need for an organization of the women of
the Bible Presbyterian Church, the Synod issued a
call for a meeting of all the women of the Synod
with a view to setting up a women's organization,
this meeting to run concurrently wdth the 1950
Synod. The Synod also appointed a committee on
women's work, composed of three members of
Synod and three women, to function during the
year to receive and disburse suggestions and
information on the setting up of the permanent
women's organization and to prepare a program
for the meeting of women in 1950. It was also
recommended that each presbytery establish a
women's organization.

Thirteenth General Synod

St. Louis, Missouri, June 1-6, 1950

The Thirteenth General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church was held in the First Bible
Presbyterian Church of St. Louis, Mo., Jime 1-6,
1950.

Dr. G. Douglas Young of New York City was
elected moderator and the Rev. Charles E. Richter,
vice-moderator. The stated clerk, the Rev. Robert

Thirteenth General Synod, St. Louis, Mo., 1950

Hastings, was assisted by Elder George E. John-
son. Elder Reginald S. Wigfield of the CoUings-
wood Bible Presbyterian Church continued as
treasurer and the Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms as
statistician. The theme of the Synod was, "Build-
ing the Church of God," with a strong emphasis
upon revival and evangelism.

Five radio stations in the city gave time to the
Bible Presbyterian Church. Resolutions were
adopted covering the subjects: Christian day
schools, approved institutions, Communism, benev-
olences, radio testimony, Reformed Ecumenical
Synod, spiritual life and evangelism. Foreign Mis-
sionary Council, Kingdom-of-God propaganda,
call to Presbyterians, National Presbyterian
Church of Chile, and the International Council of
Christian Churches.

Through a report of Dr. Carl Mclntire,
president of the Council, the eyes of the church
were set upon the coming Second Plenary Con-
gress of the ICCC to be held at Geneva in August.
The following resolution concerning the Congress
was passed:

Whereas, we are convinced that God,
through the International Council of Chris-
tian Churches, has brought into being a move-
ment that will be of increasing importance ( 1 )
in calling the Lord's people to rally to the
support of the Word of God against every
form of unbelief, (2) in presenting the true
Gospel of salvation from sin to those who
know it not, and (3) in encouraging many of
the younger churches of the mission fields in
the faith which brought them out of Satan's
kingdom into that of God's dear Son;

Therefore, be it resolved that the Bible

Presbyterian Synod again endorse the pur-
poses and efforts of the ICCC throughout
the world and especially that it call the atten-
tion of all its churches to the Second Plenary
Congress of the ICCC to be held at Geneva,
Switzerland, August 16-23, 1950, and recom-
mend to its churches that thev endeavor to
send just as many representatives to the Con-
gress as possible; and further, that in taking
offerings to send such representatives it urges
each church to raise at least one-half as much
more than thev need to send their own re-
presentatives, this extra sum to be used to
send nationals from their fields so there mav
be as large a representation as possible from
mission lands all over the world.

Further, that we instruct the clerk of
Synod to send out this resolution to all our
member churches as soon as Synod adjourns
without waiting for the publication of the
minutes.
A significant forward step in the life of the
church was the formation of a Women's Synodical
Society. This organization developed out of a
report of a Committee on Women's Organizations
headed by Dr. Robert G. Rayburn of Wheaton,
111., appointed bv the 1949 Synod. Mrs. A Franklin
Faucette of Lakewood, Ohio, was elected presi-
dent of the new Synodical which was formed with
39 women from eight Presbyteries.

The statistician reported a total of 7,860
communicants, 169 ministers and 71 churches.

The Synod also adopted the following resolu-
tions:

Concerning the Foreign Missions Conference

The Thirteenth General Synod of the Bible

Presbyterian Church hereby requests the Mis-
sions Commission of the International Council
of Christian Churches to send a communica-
tion appeahng to certain Christian bodies
now in the Foreign Missions Conference of
North America urging them not to affiHate
with the National Council of the Churches
of Christ in the U.S.A. and clearly to state
before the Christian world their own opposi-
tion to modernism and inclusivism and their
determination to bear witness to the faith
once delivered to the saints.
False Terminology

The Thirteenth General Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church declares that the
kingdom-of-God terminology used by the
modernists and their associates to describe an
economic, political, and social svstem is con-
trary to the teaching of the Bible, and will
be destructive to our free society in which the
individual is responsible first to God.

The use in the official Sunday school
literature and church publications of certain
denominations— such as the Methodist, the
Northern Baptist, the Congregational, the
Episcopal, and the Presbyterian— of this false
concept of the Kingdom is leading people to
believe that Christianity is something which
it is not. We view with deep concern the use
of the instrumentality of these churches to
promote under this false propaganda social
revolution in our countrv, which is aiding pro-
Communist forces. We call attention to the
fact that, according to the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Kingdom of God is a spiritual order, and
not a social system, and, as referred to in our
Westminster Confession of Faith, it is de-
clared to be in the world at the present time,
the Church. (John 3:3, Westminster Con-
fession of Faith, Chapter 25, Section 2. )

We commend the exposure of this false
kingdom propaganda in the popular best
seller, The Road Ahead, by John T. Flynn,
and we express our appreciation for the
service which he has rendered to the cause
of human freedom.
Communism

Inasmuch as the security of the Gov-
ernment of the United States is threatened by
a world-wdde Communist conspiracy, oper-
ating freely within our country, as revealed
by the conviction of Alger Hiss, Klaus Fuchs,
the eleven top Communists and the Coplon-
Gubitchev trial; and

Whereas, the agents of Russia are en-
gaged in this attempt to overthrow our form
of government and free institutions through
conspiracy, deceit, treachery, and eventually
violence; and

Whereas, present laws on the Federal
statute books are woefully inadequate to cope
with the menace of peacetime espionage and
sabotage, even permitting such agents to
obtain elective and appointive positions in the
Federal Government;

Therefore, he it resolved that we call upon

our citizens to inform themselves regarding

this menace to our free institutions and urge

our Go\'ernment to adopt such measures as

will safeguard the liberties of our nation.

The 13th Svnod also sent an expression of

sorrow to the facultv of Concordia Seminary upon

the loss which they have sustained through the

death of Professor W. E. G. Polack, and the desire

that God would enable them to carrv forward

their testimony to the truth of His Word and its

message of salvation.

The Synod also passed a memorial resolution
concerning the Rev. Frank H. Heydenburk who
passed away in April, 1950, at the age of 81 years.
Mr. Heydenburk entered the Bible Presbyterian
Church very shortly after its beginning and was
living in retirement at Houghton, N. Y., at the
time of his death, but had his credentials in the
Presbyterv of California. Brother Heydenburk
maintained until the end a keen and vital interest
in the work and testimony of the Bible Presby-
terian Church which considered it an honor to
have him as a minister.

Fourteenth General Synod

Shelton College, New York City, May 31 — June 5,

1951

The Fourteenth General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church, held in Shelton College,
New York City, May 31 to June 5, 1951, was the
largest in the history of the church. There were
in attendance 98 commissioners (74 ministers and
24 elders) besides a nimiber of visiting elders
and other laymen from the churches.

The Rev. John W. Sanderson, instructor at
Faith Theological Seminary, Wilmington, Del.,
was elected moderator. Mr. Sanderson had served
as pastor of the West Philadelphia Bible Presby-
terian Church and the St. Louis Bible Presbyterian
Church, and was for two years managing editor

Fourteenth General Synod, Shelton College, New York City, 1951

of the Christian Beacon. Since 1945 he has been
a member of the faculty of Faith Theological
Seminary. The Rev. Homer P. Emerson, mis-
sionary to Peru under The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions, on furlough at the
time, was appointed vice-moderator. The stated
clerk was the Rev. Robert Hastings, pastor of the
West Chester, Pa., church, with the Rev. Lawrence
N. Manross, Ph.D., pastor of Christ Church,
Philadelphia, as assistant clerk. Elder John E.
Krauss, Wilmington, Del., was elected treasurer to
succeed Elder R. S. Wigfield, Collingswood. N. J.,
who had served as treasurer for a number of years.

A number of resolutions were passed bv the
Synod, including the following: Approved institu-
tions, the Romish Church, death of Chancellor
Arie Kok, appointment of George A. Buttrick as
Cook Lecturer to the Far East, thanks to Tacoma
Church for sending their pastor around the world
in the interest of the ICCC, and thanks to the
Collingswood Church for giving their pastor so
freelv to the promotion of the Twentieth Century
Reformation.

The general subject of the discussions and
popular meetings was "Total Mobilization."

The second annual meeting of the Women's
Synodical Society of the Bible Presbyterian Church
met June 3 and 4 during the meetings of the
General Synod. The same theme was used.

The report of The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions announced the
election of Dr. J. Gordon Holdcroft to the
presidency of the Board in the fall of 1950 and
showed concern for the need of separated bodies.
The report stated: "We have seen an increased
and urgent need for a Mission Board, Presby-
terian in doctrine, and at the same time clear on
the issues which are being drawn into sharper
focus by the encroachments of modernism and
strategy of the forces represented by the World
Council of Churches and the International Mis-
sionary Council. There is no field today free from

the conflict against unbelief. This condition is
being met by the establishing of new Bible-
believing churches and councils, and we rejoice
in the part God has given the Independent
Board in this conflict." . . . "The issues
raised by the World Council and the Inter-
national Missionary Council have created a need
for separated bodies to unite their witness against
the encroachments of these modernistic agencies.
Two such Bible-believing Councils have been
organized, one in India, the India Bible Christian
Council, and the other in Japan, the Japan Bible
Christian Council. Each of these also has been
putting out a paper for the purpose of informing
other missionaries and national leaders of the
issues which face the church."

Officers of the Women's Synodical Society, 1951
Mrs. Carl Mclntire, Collingswood, N. J., chairman of Outlook
Committee; Mrs. Kenneth Horner, Wilmington, Del., corres-
ponding secretary; Miss Mary Edwards, St. Louis, Mo., re-
cording secretary; Mrs. Stanley Allen, Los Angeles, Calif.,
treasurer; Mrs. A. Franklin Faucette. Lakewood, Ohio, presi-
dent; Miss Kathryn Moore, Philadelphia, Pa., chairman of
Missionary Committee; Mrs. Peter Stam, Jr., Wilmington, Del.,
vice-president; Mrs. G. Douglas Young, New York City, not
present. Fellowship Committee chairman. (These officers
were elected in St. Louis in 1950 at the organization of the
Women's Synodical Society.)

Shelton College, a nondenominational institu-
tion that serves the Bible Presbyterian Church,
reported that it had been accredited by the Board
of Regents of the University of the State of New
York.

The Rev. Clvde J. Kennedy reported an en-
couraging outlook for the future of Highland
College, Pasadena, Calif., established for the pur-
pose of training leaders to meet the challenging
and expanding needs of the Bible Presb\terian
Church.

Faith Seminar\- reported the largest enrollment,
111 students, in the history of the institution to
date, and added: ". . . . the Seminary asked and
received recognition from the Department of
Education of the State of Delaware and also was
recognized bv the U.S. Department of State as
an approved agency for relief for students stranded
by the Communist upheaval in China. This is a
welcome addition to the xarious agencies of the
U.S. Government which have already in past
years recognized the work of the Seminary."

The S\nod now has 76 churches and 177
ministers on its roll.

Resolution on George A. Buttrick

Whereas, the Board of Foreign Missions
of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. is
sending Dr. George A. Buttrick out to lecture
in the Far East under the Joseph Cook
Foundation which was established by a
thoroughgoing Bible believer and fundamen-
talist for the purpose of defending Christian-
ity; and

Whereas, Dr. Buttrick has been a leader
of the Federal Council of Churches [National
Council] which has done so much to destroy
faith in many of the essentials of the Chris-
tian faith and is well known through his
writings as a man who denies the trust-
worthiness of the Scriptures, even in ethical
and doctrinal matters, and who has repeatedly
expressed his repugnance to the Biblical
doctrine of the substitutionary atonement;

Therefore, be it resolved that we solemnly
protest this action which seems to us a gross
misuse of trust funds, and earnestly warn the
churches in the Far East against the sin of co-
operating with him in any wa\' during the
period of his lectureship.

Fifteenth General Synod

Highland College, Pasadena, California,

August 21-26, 1952

Dr. Robert G. Rayburn, president of Highland
College, Pasadena, Calif., was elected moderator
of the Fifteenth General Synod of the Bible Pres-

b\'terian Church held at Highland College,
Pasadena, August 21-26, 1952. Dr. Rayburn
appointed the Rev. Phihp Foxwell, missionary to
Japan, as vice-moderator. The Rev. Robert
Hastings of West Chester, Pa., was re-elected
stated clerk of the Synod, with Dr. Elmer Smick
of Trenton, N. J., as his assistant. Elder John E.
Krauss and the JRev. J. U. Selwyn Toms continued
as treasurer and statistician respectively.

Sixty commissioners were present for the
opening session. The Third Annual Meeting of the
NVomen's Svnodical met concurrently with the
S\nod. The S\nodical program had been pre-
\iousl\' prepared b\' the executive committee with
the chairmen of the various committees of the
S\nodical and centered around the topics, "Prayer
and Prospects," "Preparation, Presentation, and
Proclamation." A Sunday afternoon service
attended b\- both men and women of the church
had as its topic, "What Wonders God Hath
Wrought in the Bible Presbyterian Church."

The Synod passed a number of important
resolutions on the following topics: Religious free-
dom through the United Nations, approved institu-
tions, Sunday school teachers' pledge, separation
from apostasy, the Romish Church, chaplains,
progressive education. General Eisenhower, the
ICCC, ACCC, and local councils. A memorial
resolution was passed on the Rev. J. B. Foster, a
member of Great Lakes Presbytery, who went
to be with the Lord on April 17, 1952.

A high light of the meeting was the presentation
of a Directory of Worship by the Rev. Charles E.
Richter of Collingswood, N. ]., the chaimian of the
Committee. The Directory was formulated in
compliance with the action of the Thirteenth
General Svnod meeting in St. Louis, Mo. Con-
siderable time, study, and labor went into the
preparation of the Directory. The Committee
examined a goodly number of such directories
used by various churches which adhere to the
Reformed Faith. The present Directory was based
largely on the directory of worship of the Church
of Scotland, adopted in 1645, and from the
directory of worship of the Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A. adopted in 1788.

Emphasis was placed in several instances upon
certain matters necessary to this age and peculiar
to the separated position of the Bible Presbyterian
Church. The Directory was sent to the presby-
teries for their consideration and study.

Some of the most important resolutions passed
bv the Svnod are as follows:

Fifteenth General Synod, Highland College, Pasadena, Calif., August, 1952

The ICCC, ACCC, and Local Councils

Recognizing that the present "national
emergency" and the international conflict
are due to ideologies which deny the Chris-
tian faith and freedom, we, the members of
the Fifteenth General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church, heartily recommend the
testimony of the International Council of
Christian Churches and the American Council
of Christian Churches in their exposure of the
errors of modernism and socialism —namely:

( 1 ) The denial of the Bible as the Word
of God and Christ Jesus as the risen Lord
and the only Saviour and mediator with
God;

(2) The humanistic concept that the
State is responsible for the economic and
physical care of the individual, rather than
being the agent of the people for general
safety and freedom.

We approve the militant stand of the
ICCC in rallying Bible believers in various
lands through conferences, as most recently
held at Edinburgh, Scotland, and Beirut,
Lebanon, maintaining governmental freedom
for missionaries to enter other lands, un-
hindered by local church or mission councils,
and we commend this to the earnest prayers of
God's people.

We urge our churches to support to the
fullest extent the work of the ICCC and the
ACCC in maintaining this Gospel witness,
particularly in our nation, and to take active
part in the regional witness of forming local
councils affiliated with them.

Progressive Education and Christian Schools

Resolved, that we deplore the purposeless
naturalism and educational incompetence of
the progressive education movement;

That, in opposition to the doctrine that
"there are no eternal verities" (Dewey and
Kirkpatrick ) , we maintain and proclaim not
only the eternal verity of logic but also the
eternal verities of our Christian faith. And we
declare that these and all eternal verities are
grounded in the very character of the Al-
mighty Triune God;

That, in opposition to the doctrine that
"there is no cosmic teleology" (Dewev and
Childs), we point to the manifestation of
God's eternal power and divine character in
nature, the evidences of God's redemptive
program and eternal decrees in cosmic history;

That we call upon Christian parents,
where the philosophies of progressive educa-
tion are the basis of instruction, to withdraw
their children from public schools and to send
their children to Christian schools where God
is recognized, His Word is taught, and Chris-
tian influence prevails.
Sunday School Teachers' Pledge

Whereas, the Sunday School is a vital
part of a Bible testimony, and recognizing the
great responsibility of the Sunday School
teacher and all persons connected with the
administration of same, we urge that the
session of each Bible Presbyterian cinirch
formulate a method, in so far as possible,
whereby anyone functioning as a teacher or
officer in the Sunday School shall subscribe to

the system of doctrine set forth in the
Westminster standards.

Sixteenth General Synod

Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, June 4-9, 1953

The Rev. WilHam A. Mahlow, newly elected
general secretary of The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions, was named mod-
erator of the Sixteenth General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church, meeting in Faith Theological
Seminary, Elkins Park, Pa., June 4-9, 1953. Mr.
Mahlow, formerly a missionary to India, was the
first president of the India Bible Christian Council.
He is a graduate of Princeton University and Faith
Theological Seminary.

Mr. Mahlow named the Rev. Elmer Smick,
pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church of
Trenton, N. J., as vice-moderator. The Rev.
Robert Hastings continued as stated clerk assisted
b\' the Rev. A. F. Moginot, Jr., and Elder John E.
Krauss and the Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms continued
as treasurer and statistician respectively.

In a strong resolution dealing with the pro-
jected union of the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A., the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., and
the United Presbyterian Church, the Bible Presby-
terians invited all those of one mind and heart in
these denominations to join together in a united
stand for a true Presbyterian testimony in the
United States. The resolution follows:

Presbyterian Church Union

Resolved, that the 16th General Synod of
the Bible Presbyterian Church extend to
those fellow saints within the Presbyterian
Churches, U.S.A., U.S., U.P., and A.R.P. -
Christians who are disturbed by the trend
within their denominations toward sacrifice of
loyalty to the Word of God upon the altar of
church unions, inclusivism, and ecumenicity
— that we extend to these Bible-believing
brethren a cordial invitation to join hands
with us in our vigorous efforts to preserve and
perpetuate the historic Reformed Faith as set
forth in the Westminster Standards.

We believe heartily that such a union of
regenerate, Bible-believing Christians upon a
foundation of loyalty to and common under-
standing of God's Word is the only sort of
organic union which honors God and is
obedient to His Word.

Our prayer is that the Lord will protect
us from being divided into small Presbyterian
bodies, but rather will bring those of one
mind and heart together in a united stand for
"the faith once delivered unto the saints."

The Synod in a lengthy letter to all Presby-
terian churches throughout the world challenged
the censure pronounced upon one of its members,
the Rev. Carl Mclntire, D.D., by the Western
Section of the World Presbyterian Alliance.

A resolution was passed commending the Com-
mittee on Un-American Activities for its proposed
investigation of Communists among the clergy.
The resolution follows:

Sixteenth General Synod, Faith Theological Seminary, Elkins Park, Philadelphia, Pa., June, 1953

Communism in the Clergy

Whereas, some individual clergymen and
theological educators have in their preaching
and teaching followed a pro-Communist and
socialistic line; and

Whereas, the Committee on Un-American
Activities of the United States House of
Representatives has indicated its intention of
extending its investigations to the pro-Com-
munist and socialistic connections of individual
clergymen and theological educators;

Therefore, he it resolved that we, the 16th
Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church,
meeting in Philadelphia, June 6, 1953, do
heartily commend and endorse the intention
of the Committee to include such clergymen
and theological leaders within the scope of
its investigations.
The following resolution was also adopted:
Revised Standard Version

Whereas, the Revised Standard Version
of the Bible has been greatly publicized and
recommended as the "authorized" revision;
and

Whereas, there is danger of bias entering
into the production of any version; and

Whereas, the committee producing the
Revised Standard Version is composed of a
group of men noted for their liberal views;
and

Whereas, the Revised Standard Version
reveals a loose handling of the texts of the
original languages often emending on the
basis of arbitrary assumptions, and showing
an unwarranted use of the lesser versions
contrary to the sound principles of scholarly
textual criticism; and

Whereas, footnotes are often misleading
or in some instances totally lacking; and

Whereas, this Bible, especially in the Old
Testament portion, has been consistently
altered in the doctrinal parts relating to
prophecy and the person and work of Christ
so as to reflect a Unitarian position; and

Whereas, one who is not capable of check-
ing the renderings in the Revised Standard
Version by the original languages has no
means of ascertaining the truth behind the
altered renderings; and

Whereas, one who uses the Revised
Standard Version will miss many great truths
of God's revelation, especially the integral
unity of the Old Testament and the New
Testament on the doctrine of Christ.

Be it resolved that this 16th General Synod
of the Bible Presbyterian Church, meeting in
Philadelphia, Pa., disapproves the Revised
Standard Version and strongly urges Chris-
tians everywhere to reject the appeals being
made for the use of the Revised Standard
Version for public and devotional reading.
This resolution was sent to the publishers of
the Revised Standard Version. The clerk was
instructed to place this resolution in the hands
of any publication that would carry it.

The report of the American Council of Chris-
tian Churches emphasized the Back-to-the-Bible
Rally held in Denver, Colo., January 30, 1953, to
protest the new Revised Standard Version of the
Bible. This mass meeting, attended by 1,600
people, sparked the issue all over the country and
hundreds of rallies were held. The ACCC also
sponsored a Christian Crusade against Com-
munism with a mass meeting in Constitution Hall,
Washington, D.C., on May 8, 1953. This came as
a result of the suggestion of Congressman H. H.
Velde, chairman of the Committee on Un-
American Activities, about the possibility of in-

vestigating Communists among the clergy. The
ACCC took a clean, forthright stand on this issue,
supported the investigation, and has backed the
Committee, while the National Council and its
leaders have opposed such an investigation. Bishop
G. Bromley Oxnam, NCC spokesman, and
a president of the NCC, was the chief leader in
the attack of the modernist forces upon the Com-
mittee.

The International Council of Christian
Churches reported the establishment of national
and regional councils, and a regional conference
in Toronto, Canada, to be held June 18-23, 1953.
The report said:

"The problem of keeping mission doors open
remains one of the major responsibilities of the
ICCC and there are increasing threats and prob-
lems in certain sections of the world, including
Africa, India, Japan, Colombia, and Venezuela . . .
The ICCC is basically a missionary organization.
The Council has raised a standard for the faith
throughout the Christian world, and helped to
clarify issues in all sections of the world. It has
joined the battle over modernism with the
ecumenical movement and represents what has
come to be known as the Twentieth Century Refor-
mation movement on the world level."

Dr. J. Gordon Holdcroft, reporting for The In-
dependent Board for Presbvterian Foreign Mis-
sions, read a letter to the General Synod from the
General Presbytery in Korea petitioning the Bible
Presbyterian Church to enter into fraternal rela-
tion with the Korean church and asking that the
missionaries working in Korea take the status of
affiliate members in the Korean presbyteries. The
Korean Presbytery asked for two additional mis-
sionary teachers. Attached to the report was a
paper, "Presbyterianism in Korea," which
explained the cause and result of the divided state
of the church in Korea. The Korean Presbytery
attributed the divided state of the church to the
unpresbyterian manner in which the General
Assembly was organized, lack of repentance and
discipline concerning the shrine issue, and
hberalism and Barthianism in two seminaries
under the control of the Korean General Assembly.

Faith Theological Seminary reported the
purchase of the Widener property in Philadelphia
in 1952 and a total of 141 students in 1953.

The report stated: "The major emphasis, as
always, has been upon the great fundamental
teachings of the faith. Stress has been laid upon
the dependabihty of the Word of God, the
necessity of belief in the shed blood of Jesus Christ

for salvation, and the great supernatural works of
God which are revealed in the Scripture. The
attempt has been, not to produce sectarians, but
to produce Christian leaders who, while laying
proper emphasis on the correct teaching of the
Scripture on secondary issues, will put their main
stress on the great issues of the faith. This is a
difficult goal."

Shelton College reported that it had "contin-
ued in an ever-expanding manner the ministry for
which Shelton College, and before it, the National
Bible Institute, were founded; namely, to prepare
ministers, missionaries, and lay workers ... to
offer a thorough education to young people with
Christian convictions and to train these young
people for leadership among our Bible-believing
constituencv in the United States and in the
foreign field." The College is free from entangling
alliances with modernism, and co-operates fully
with the American and International Councils of
Christian Churches.

A memorial service for the Rev. J. B. Foster,
who died in 1952, the Rev. Lewis H. Jamison of
the California Presbytery, father of the Rev. Milo
F. Jamison, and Elder Roland K. Armes of the
Philadelphia Presbytery, was held vdth resolutions
concerning their faithful witnessing.

The Women's Synodical Society held its annual
session on Monday, with more than 200 in attend-
ance. The theme was, "Living Stones."

Seventeenth General Synod

Greenville, South Carolina, June 3-9, 1954

The Seventeenth General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church was held in the Bible Pres-
byterian Church of Greenville, S. C, June 3-9,
1954. The Rev. L. G. Gebb, pastor of the Bible
Presbyterian Church of Lakewood, Fla., was
named moderator by one vote over the Rev. John
M. L. Young of Tokyo, Japan, a missionary of
The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign
Missions, on furlough. The Rev. Max Belz of Iowa
was chosen to serve as vice-moderator and the
Rev. Lloyd C. Snyder of South Dakota assisted
the clerk, the Rev. Robert Hastings.

Friday, June 4, was set aside as a day of prayer,
and reports were heard throughout the Synod of
all the activities of the denomination. The statisti-
cian, the Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms, reported that
there were 208 ministers and 84 churches. In the
over-all giving, including the agencies which the
denomination supports, more than a million
dollars had been received the past year.

Seventeenth General Synod, Greenville, S. C, 1954

The Rev. Floumoy Shepperson, St., pastor of
the host church, made arrangements for delegates
to be housed and entertained in the dormitories
and facihties of Bob Jones University. The Synod
met in the South in order that it might make an
appeal to the conservative elements in the
Southern Presbyterian Church who are con-
fronted with the decision of their General Assem-
bly to unite with the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A. and the United Presbyterian Church.

A resolution was unanimously passed inviting
the Bible-believing Presbyterians in the Southern
denomination to come into the fellowship and
testimony of the Bible Presbyterian Church, to
consider its doctrinal oneness and its commitment
to the historic standards of the Presbyterian faith,
including the Westminster Confession of Faith
and Catechisms.

Another resolution dissociated the Presby-
terians in the Bible Presbyterian movement from
the action of the General Assembly of the Presby-
terian Church in the U.S.A. in endorsing the
"Letter to Presbyterians" written by Dr. John A.
Mackav and released by the General Council of
his denomination. The Bible Presbyterian action
objected to the attacks made upon the Govern-
ment's committees investigating Communism and
declared that the letter was not Presbyterian.

A third resolution called upon the President of
the United States to withdraw the appointment of
the Rev. D. Elton Trueblood, Chief of Religious
Information of the U.S. Information Agency.

Reports from the Visitation and Accreditation
Committee of the Synod concerning their study of
the various independent agencies through which
the denomination works were approved.

Criticisms of the American Council and a
study of the proposed new constitution for the
Council were considered at some length by the
Synod. The four delegates elected to the American
Council under its present constitution were:
Robert G. Raybum, Max Belz, Claude Bunzel,
and L. G. Gebb. The delegates elected to rep-
resent the church in the Third Plenary Congress
of the ICCC were: WilHam A. Mahlow, Carl
Mclntire, R. Laird Harris, and Francis A.
Schaeffer.

A resolution concerning the World Council's
Assembly in Evanston, 111., was adopted as
follows :

The World Council is planning to hold its
second General Assembly at Evanston,
Illinois, August 15-31. Announced delegates
include clergymen from Iron Curtain coun-
tries who advocate economic doctrines of
international Communism. Public Law 414
denies visas to those who advocate the
economic doctrines of International Com-
munism.

Therefore, the 17th General Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church, meeting at Green-
ville, S. C, June 8, 1954, respectfully petitions
the Department of State of the U.S. Gov-
ernment to enforce this provision of federal

law by denying visas to any and all delegates
who come under this classification.

Early in the Synod a memorial service was
held for the Rev. Thomas A. Lambie, missionary
to the Holy Land under The Independent Board
for Presbyterian Foreign Missions, and Elder John
G. Crane, St., of Baltimore, Md., who had gone to
be with the Lord since the General Synod last met.
Later, at the request of the Great Plains Presby-
tery, a memorial resolution was read for Elder
Otis G. Davenport, which had been adopted by
the Presbytery and read at the summer camp in
Underwood, N. Dak. Mr. Davenport was one of
the leaders of the movement that brought into
existence the Presbytery of the Great Plains. The
organization was formed on August 18, 1938, in
the Moore log cabin. The same day in the same
log cabin the Bible Presbyterian Church of Glen-
dale was organized. Mr. Davenport was elected
an elder and remained an elder until his death.

The report of the Resolutions Committee said:
"The Resolutions Committee was presented
with two forms of a Resolution favoring a reaffir-
mation of our Reformed position: (1) the resolu-
tion which was presented to the Committee by the
Presbytery of the Philadelphia Area; (2) the form
presented to Synod by Mr. George Christian and
referred to our committee by this body.

"The committee prefers the resolution pre-
sented by the Presbytery of the Philadelphia Area
and commends as worthy of study Mr. Christian's
pamphlet of the standards of our church, but
recommends that the Synod postpone action until
the next meeting of Synod in order that there may
be sufficient time to adequately study the matter."

A communication from the Presbytery of the
Great Lakes requested the Synod "to consider
carefully in the future elections of committee
members the benefits to be derived from a wider
distribution of committee duties." The letter
pointed out that certain brothers had "heaped
upon them the responsibilities and duties of many
committees while others have been left without
any such responsibilities."

The Presbytery of the Great Plains requested
the 17th General Synod "to urge the institutions
approved by our Synod to sohcit funds through
the sessions of the churches of our Synod rather
than through constant appeal to the individual
members of our churches." The Committee recom-
mended that no action be taken. Synod adopted
the recommendation of the Committee for three
reasons: "(1) If our agencies stop appealing for

funds, other agencies will continue to do so. (2)
The direct contact of boards and agencies with our
people helps us to keep these institutions before
the people. (3) A better approach to the problem
involved is suggested that the people be urged to
give their offerings through the church, and that
they inform their elders of these appeals expressing
their desire that the church support the agency if
at all possible."

At the Synod of 1954 there was a move in the
direction of church-controlled agencies rather than
independent agencies.

The Committe on Christian Education, which
had from time to time been occupied in surveying
this field and in encouraging the efforts of the
local presbyteries to improve the work of the
Sunday schools and other agencies for Christian
education, was given authority to hire a full-time
secretary. This permission was implemented
shortly before the meeting of the 1955 Synod.
However, only a small step was taken by the
1954 Synod in the direction of forming another
powerful agency to stand alongside of National
Missions, and even this was subject to review at
the 1955 Synod.

Eighteenth General Synod

St. Louis, Missouri, June 2-8, 1955

Dr. J. Oliver Buswell, Jr., president of Shelton
College, Ringwood, N. J., was elected moderator
of the Eighteenth General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church meeting in the newly com-
pleted First Bible Presbyterian Church of St.
Louis, Mo., June 2-8, 1955. Dr. Buswell appointed
as vice-moderator the Rev. Donald J. MacNair,
pastor of the host church. The Rev. Robert
Hastings was elected stated clerk and the Rev.
John W. Buswell assistant clerk.

A memorial service was held for the Rev.
Louis Berks of the Upper Midwest Presbytery and
the Rev. M. A. Pearson, a missionary to the
Cherokee Indians from 1911 to shortly before his
death.

The theme of the inspirational messages was,
"The Lord Christ," and sermons were on the
topics: "Peace Because of Christ," "Tribulation
Because of the World," and "Victory Because of
Christ."

It was during the 18th Synod that small roots
of bitterness and issues which had been causing
dissatisfaction began to come to a head. The

Eighteenth General Synod, St. Louis, Mo., 1955

Synod received several overtures and communica-
tions designed to change the future history of the
church. The actions of this Synod vitally affected
the testimony of the Bible Presbyterian Church.

The overtures divided themselves roughly into
three types of complaints, grounds for dissatis-
faction within the church. The first group of
overtures constituted an attack upon the American
and International Councils of Christian Churches.
The Presbytery of the Midsouth protested three
specific actions of the ACCC, and two specific
actions of the ICCC, and asked Synod to require
that both Councils rectify these actions. The Pres-
bytery of the Midwest overtured Synod to
investigate thoroughly and report on the "Bible
Balloon Project" of the ICCC and to counsel Bible
Presbyterian Churches to withhold gifts from this
project until such time as the conflicting and
confusing claims of "Bible Balloon" literature be
clarified to Synod's satisfaction, and "to go on
record stating that we do not be asked to support
an agency while there is a publicly noted and
documented rift among our Bible Presbyterian
brethren associated vvith it that has not been fairly
presented to and discussed by Synod as a whole."

The resolution from the Presbytery of the
Midsouth had its roots in the 13th annual con-
vention of the American Council of Christian
Churches in Boston, October 27-29, 1954. After
this convention the Rev. Donald J. MacNair of
St. Louis announced to a group that he was re-
turning to his church to ask his presbytery
(Presbytery of the Midsouth) to overture the
Bible Presbyterian Synod to withdraw from the
ACCC. At the Boston meeting, which was drawing
up a new constitution for the ACCC, Dr. Robert
G. Raybum of Pasadena, Calif., a delegate of the
Bible Presbyterian Church, presented a proposed
amendment to the constitution under instructions
from the Bible Presbyterian Synod — an amend-
ment which every denomination in the ACCC
voted to reject. There were only four votes in
favor of the amendment — those from the Bible
Presbyterian delegates themselves. The amend-

ment, if adopted, would restrict the activities of
the Council and thereby weaken the ACCC in its
militant defense of the faith. The proposed amend-
ment would have changed the ACcC and made it
different from the ICCC under which the ACCC's
officers also worked. Dr. Robert T. Ketcham, a
leader of the General Association of Regular
Baptist Churches, and Dr. Carl Mclntire, editor
of the Christian Beacon, opposed the amendment
and it was not adopted.

At a time in the history of world events when
the battle for the preservation of the faith was
increasing and deepening, when the Communists'
use of the churches in exchange visits with
Russian clergymen were burning issues, when the
battle on the home front needed to be decisive and
united — at this time, the testimonies of both the
ACCC and ICCC were attacked from within.

The attack on the "Bible Balloon Project" of
the ICCC criticized the advertisements of the
plan to float Scripture portions by gas-filled
balloons to enslaved peoples behind the Iron
Curtain. Literally thousands of Gospel-laden
balloons were launched from vantage points in
Europe to Russia. Letters and news notices had
been received telling of the salvation of souls,
belief in God's Word, escape to freedom, and
revivals. But because the initial advertisements
had stated that "Bibles" would be floated across
the Iron Curtain, and because, when it was dis-
covered that the balloons would not float an entire
Bible for the estimated amount of money, the
Bibles were changed to Scripture portions, the
attack was made that the claims were inaccurate
and false. However, the solution to this problem
lay within the Councils themselves.

During the discussion and debate concerning
the complaints about the ACCC, it was moved and
seconded that the General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church withdraw from the ACCC, a
Council the church had helped organize! This
motion was lost 21-67. Ten ministers and three
elders asked that their negative vote be recorded
in the minutes. Twenty-three ministers and elders

asked that it be noted in the minutes that they
abstained from voting on this motion. Although
the motion was lost, the effort to take the church
out of the ACCC did not stop, and the number
who favored a softer approach to the issues of the
day began to grow.

However, provision was made for ministers and
laymen to act freely and according to their
conscience by the following action : "It was moved
and seconded that any church or minister desiring
not to be counted or to be considered in the ACCC
membership may notify the stated clerk of Synod,
and the clerk is instructed not to include such
church or minister in the statistics submitted to the
ACCC, and that such a church or minister be con-
sidered not in the ACCC. Synod recommends that
anv local church should accord similar privilege
to any of its members either to remain in or with-
draw as the case may be." The same action con-
cerning membership in the ICCC was taken later.
However, these actions did not satisfy the critics
of the two Councils.

Another problem concerned the issue of
separation and a militant stand for the faith as
commanded in the Bible. Philadelphia Presbytery
overtured Synod to declare anew its acceptance of
the resolution on separation from apostasy adopted
at the First General Synod of the Bible Presby-
terian Church, and the Harvey Cedars resolution
on "Separation from Apostasy," and "to urge the
members of our church to study the principles
expressed in them and to seek to apply them
uncompromisingly in thought and in conduct."
The Philadelphia Presbytery heartily endorsed the
stand on separation as taken by the ACCC and
ICCC and overtured Synod not to withdraw from
either organization; the Presbytery of the Pacific
Northwest requested the 18th Synod to restate
and clarify, in the light of recent developments,
the limits of co-operation on the part of Bible
Presbyterian churches with the National Council
of Churches and the National Association of
Evangelicals' churches or institutions in com-
munity enterprises.

A third problem facing the church at this time
was the issue of independent agencies, which the
Bible Presbyterian Church had supported and
recommended from its inception, versus church-
supported agencies, which was a big issue in the
controversy in the U.S.A. Presbyterian Church and
one of the causes of the formation of the Bible
Presbyterian Church. At the 18th Synod the
Presbytery of the Great Plains overtured Synod
to consider the establishment of a liberal arts

college under the direct supervision and admin-
istration of the Bible Presbyterian Synod. The
Synod was already approving and recommending
two liberal arts colleges, and now there was an
overture for a third! At the same time, the
Philadelphia Presbytery overtured Synod to con-
tinue to recognize both independent agencies and
agencies within the church as equally proper
within the Presbyterian structure, and Carolina
Presbytery overtured the Synod to recommit itself
to the present existing policy and relationship to
boards and agencies serving uncompromisingly
the cause of Christ in these days of apostasy.

Then the Synod took three far-reaching steps
in the direction of changing the type of activities
of the members of the church to that of Synod-
controlled agencies, in an attempt to solve the
second of the three problems.

The first of these was the establishment of a
new and greatly enlarged committee on Chris-
tian Education to cover a large area of the church's
work, and to employ a full-time secretary. This was
a major step in the direction of the type of boards
and agencies which were so prominent a factor in
the life of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
in the vears immediately preceding the formation
of the Bible Presbyterian Church.

A second far-reaching step in this direction was
taken in an action to establish an official magazine,
which, it was said, would be "the voice of the
church." The attitude of the church has always
been that individuals and groups were free to
issue magazines or pronouncements of their
opinions, but that these represented simply the
viewpoint of individuals and not the voice of
the church as a whole. Only within the last
quarter of a century did the Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A. go so far as to establish an official
organ which was supposed to be the voice of the
church.

The third vital step in this direction was the
action which was presented on the last day of the
Synod, and adopted, that a committee should be
set up with authorization to establish a college
under the sponsorship of the Synod.

Thus the actions of the Synod embarked the
Bible Presbyterian Church in a new direction and
increased the spheres of activity to be conducted
by Synod-controlled agencies. Previous to these
crucial actions of the 18th Synod, the work of the
Bible Presbyterian Church had been under a
Synod-controlled board in the area of National
Missions only, but in all other areas members of
the church were free to serve the Lord as they

thought wise without any competition from
organizations which could claim to represent the
whole Synod.

The growing division within the church was
clearly evidenced by the votes on the establish-
ment of two of these agencies. The publication
was approved by a vote of 65-40 and the Synod-
controlled college was set up by a 58-30 vote.
Neither vote was an overwhelming majority. The
cleavage was apparent. The lack of increase in
the membership, as reported by the statistician,
due to increasing unrest in the church, was clearly
shown. Some presbyteries had very few new com-
municants. One even showed a decrease.

A resolution concerning the standards of the
Bible Presbyterian Church which had been
recommended for study by the 17th General
Synod was adopted. The resolution was as follows :
Whereas, there have been certain un-
founded statements and rumors that the Bible
Presbyterian Church is not Reformed,

Therefore, the 17th General Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church carrying on as it
does the historic tradition which was so long
and so nobly maintained by the Presbyterian
Church, U.S.A., and by the Presbyterian
Church U.S., whose terms of subscription for
200 years have scrupulously distinguished
between "substance of doctrine" and "system
of doctrine," prior to the entrance of ungodly
apostasy into the midst of these churches, de-
siring once and for all to put an end to such
rumors, gladly reaffirms its reception and
adoption of the Westminster Confession of
Faith as containing the system of doctrine
taught in the Holy Scriptures.
Reports from the various agencies recom-
mended by the Synod were not read to the com-
missioners, but the stated clerk, as instructed,
included them in the minutes for the information
of the church.

The 18th General Synod closed to meet in the
year of our Lord, 1956, "at a time and place to be
designated by the moderator."

The sixth annual meeting of the Women's
Synodical was held concurrently in St. Louis with
the 18th General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church. The program committee, chaired by Mrs.
Charles E. Richter of CoUingswood, N. J., had
selected as the theme for the day, "Possessing the
Land." Dr. Carl Mclntire, ICCC president,
addressed the ladies on the topic, "Possession
through Obedience."

WHY INCREASE OF

SYNOD-CONTROLLED BOARDS AND

AGENCIES IS UNDESIRABLE

1. Such a development was one of the
things that led to its becoming necessary for
us to separate from the Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A.

2. This development is a definite step in
the direction of prelacy, which is the type of
church government to which Presbyterians
have been most strongly and constantly
opposed.

3. This development is contrary to
original Presbyterianism, being practically
unknown before 1790, and without any real
warrant in the Westminster Confession or
Form of Government, or in the original Form
of Government of the Presbyterian Church in
the U.S.A.

4. The Bible nowhere commands such
agencies, nor does it give evidence of the
existence of similar procedures in apostolic
times.

5. Synod-controlled agencies by their very
nature tend to inefficiency.

6. The existence of Synod-controlled
boards and agencies makes it difficult for
the Synod to carry on the work which
properly belongs to it.

7. Svnod-controlled boards and agencies
inevitably lead to the development of harm-
ful ecclesiastical machines.

CHRISTIAN FREEDOM

The Bible Presbyterian Church has not been
without its struggles. Occasionally it has expe-
rienced growing pains. Its founders, having passed
through the fires in their stand for God's Word,
were acutely conscious of the oppressive power
of ecclesiastical machines. The Independent Board
for Presbyterian Foreign Missions, Faith The-
ological Seminary, and various other agencies
were founded as institutions free of denomina-
tional control, and are not limited to the members
of the Bible Presbyterian Church. In the course of
time there developed a movement for tighter
ecclesiastical control. Most of those who had gone
through the situations that led to the founding of
the denomination opposed this tendency, having
learned by personal experience how easy it is for

ecclesiastically-controlled agencies to develop into
machines that control the church. In the Presby-
terian Church in the U.S.A. such agencies had
fallen easy prey to modernistic forces, which used
them to gain control of the denomination itself. In
this way a relatively small group of men had
steered that church away from its original con-
fessional and constitutional standards.

The Bible Presbyterian Church has resisted all
tendencies in this direction, and gives individual
Christians freedom to work as the Holy Spirit
leads. The Synod desires to restrict itself to those
activities which are its proper function, such as
ministerially interpreting the Word of God,
guarding the church against the entrance of false
doctrine, overseeing the entrance to the sacred
ministry, and providing a time of mutual fellow-
ship and encouragement in the things of the Lord.
When a Synod adds to these activities the control
and direction of boards and agencies, its proper
functions come to be neglected, Christian freedom
suffers, and a way is opened by which false
doctrine may ultimately gain control of the
denomination. The Bible nowhere commands
denominationally-controlled schools, boards, or
agencies, nor does it contain evidence of the
existence of such procedures in apostolic times.
They are not characteristic of early forms of Pres-
byterianism, which worked through independent
agencies. The first General Assembly of the Pres-
byterian Church to be held in America showed no
denominational program but posed the necessity
to guard the doctrinal standards of the church.
Only private societies for the propagation of the
Gospel existed 250 years ago.

Nineteenth General Synod

St. Louis, Missouri, April 5-11, 1956

The Eighteenth General Synod adjourned
leaving the choosing of the time and place of the
next Synod to the moderator. Dr. J. Oliver Bus-
well, Jr. Although this was contrary to the require-
ments of the Form of Government (Chap. 10,
Sec. 8), it was passed, and the Synod illegally
adjourned to meet in 1956 at the discretion of the
moderator. This, of course, made it impossible
legally to convene another Synod.

To the astonishment and disapproval of many,
the moderator called a Synod to meet in February,
1956, but this was changed to April. Many of the
brethren and churches, considering that this was
illegal and unvidse, declined to attend this meeting.

although as members of the Bible Presbyterian
Church they had the right to attend any Synod,
even this called the "Nineteenth General Synod,"
which met illegally. But they could not lawfully
take any part in it. This illegal Synod proceeded
to elect officers and take actions which were
against the constitution and practice of the
church.

The officers of the "Nineteenth General Synod"
which met at the Y.M.C.A. in St. Louis, Mo.,
April 5-11, 1956, were: Rev. R. Laird Harris,
Ph.D., D.D., moderator, who appointed the Rev.
Kenneth A. Horner, Jr., to serve as vice-moderator;
Rev. Robert Hastings, stated clerk, assisted by the
Rev. W. Harold Mare.

At the beginning of the Synod, Dr. J. Gordon
Holdcroft, president of The Independent Board
for Presbyterian Foreign Missions, was given
permission to make a special statement, in which
he presented five reasons "for objecting to the
time of holding the 19th General Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church." A principal reason
upon which others hinged was the fact that the
time had been changed so drastically as not to
allow elders to receive leave of absence from their
employment. Such a drastic change from a fall to
a spring meeting was not voted by the Synod; so
many important matters demanded that the time
be as convenient as possible; and so many church-
approved institutions could not possibly make and
submit complete reports of their work so early in
the vear. However, the moderator who had called
the meeting justified the change by the fact that
"so many" had signed a petition requesting the
Synod to meet at this particular time. However,
the Synod convened with 73 ministers and only
18 elders present.

The Synod proceeded with its business of
receiving overtures and adopting them. The
actions taken by this Synod completed what had
been started at the 18th General Synod — actions
which shocked many. The Synod withdrew from
both the American and International Councils of
Christian Churches, and refused to approve the
historic, independent institutions such as The
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign
Missions, Faith Theological Seminary, Highland
College, Shelton College, and the Christian
Beacon. Instead, it voted to establish a Synod-
controlled college and seminary, a complete
reversal in policy.

The action concerning the International
Council of Christian Churches was used by the
leaders of the World Council of Churches around

the world to hurt the separatist cause. Imme-
diately, there was formed the Bible Presbyterian
Church Association with which more than a
majority of churches and a majority of the people
in the denomination affiliated themselves in order
that they might continue in association and
constituent membership with the American
and International Councils of Christian Churches.

The problems concerned also developments in
the church as they related to: first, more central
control, as it was expressed, in a more Synod-
controlled church, with all the agencies under the
control and direction of the Synod; second, a
softer approach concerning the issues of apostasy.
Dr. Mclntire became involved in this because of
his place of leadership as president of the ICCC,
and his stand in the Christian Beacon. Quite a
number of men in the church, including some of
the vounger men, did not like the Christian
Beacon, and claimed it hurt the church.

They wanted an official voice, an official board
of education, an official denominational college,
an official denominational seminary, which only
Synod would direct. All of this was in direct
conflict with the trend and the spirit of the church
as it was established over the controversy
centering around The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions and the accom-
panying independent agencies that developed to
help build the separated Presbyterian movement
and to help the entire separated cause.

The "19th Synod" also took a number of very
surprising actions relating to freedom as
guaranteed in the constitution. In the Bible Pres-
byterian Church, a Synod has no power unless
specifically granted in the constitution. In fact,
the significant Bible Presbyterian principles are
the rights and liberties of the local churches, with
presbyteries and synods having only specified,
limited powers. But the 19th Synod proceeded in
violation of the constitution : ( 1 ) to order a local
church to add names to its roll and to take names
off the roll; (2) to establish a committee and
instruct it to meet with certain brethren with
power given to them to initiate administrative and
judicial discipline; (3) to order a presbytery to
meet.

None of these powers were granted to a Synod
by the constitution, but this Synod took them
anyhow. Serious questions of authority and
obedience to a Synod were raised, which many
men in the Bible Presbyterian Church could not
accept— they had had too grueling experiences
with the same concept of power as practiced by

the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. An attempt
was made by brethren to force issues in the courts
of the church instead of first pursuing the path of
"mutual love and confidence," as the constitution
demands.

The illegal "19th Synod" continued to develop
and to call meetings. The next meeting was a pro
re nata meeting held in Columbus, Ohio,
November 27, 1956, followed immediately by a
"20th Synod" on November 28-30, 1956. The
group was informally designated as the "Columbus
Synod." In due course it adopted the name,
"Evangelical Presbyterian Church." It turned
away from an emphasis on independent agencies
and established its own church-related foreign
missions program under the name, "World Presby-
terian Missions"; its own paper, the Evangelical
Presbyterian Reporter; its own national missions
board; and its own college and seminary.
Covenant College and Covenant Seminary in St.
Louis, Mo.

At the meeting in Columbus, Ohio, 1956, the
Columbus Synod charged its Committee on
Fraternal Relations "with further efforts to cement
friendly relations with other Bible-believing
groups, especially the Reformed Presbyterian
Church (General Synod), the Orthodox Presby-
terian Church, and the Christian Reformed
Church, and that we go on record as regretting the
severity and bitterness of the division of 1937 and
urge our committee further to explore avenues of
mutual friendship and co-operation." At this
meeting one of the corresponding members to be
seated was the late Dr. Ned B. Stonehouse, a
minister of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and
professor of New Testament at Westminster The-
ological Seminary.

Historically, the reasons for the division
between the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and
the Bible Presbyterian Church were three: the use
of intoxicating beverages, the question of the
premillennial return of Christ, and the repudiation
of The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions, or independent agencies. The
Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1936 refused
to take a stand against the use of intoxicating
beverages or to counsel total abstinence to young
people. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church is not
a distinctly premillennial church. In fact, the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church championed
amillennialism. The Orthodox Presbyterian
Church has a Synod-controlled foreign missions
agency. These policies have not changed since
1937. The Columbus Synod, as soon as it repu-

diated the independent agencies established by the
Bible Presbyterian Church since 1937, immediately
began to have fraternal relationships with the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

In July, 1961, the Columbus Synod became a
new denomination and changed its name to
"Evangelical Presbyterian Church." In 1960, the
Synod amended its constitution in such a way as
to allow any view of the Lord's return —
premillennialism, postmillennialism, amillennial-
ism. In 1965, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church
imited organically with the Reformed Presbyterian
Church in North America (General Synod). The
new body is known as "The Reformed Presbyterian
Church, Evangelical Synod." Some of the leaders
in both of the churches which united were in
1936 in the Presbyterian Church of America, now
called the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Twentieth General Synod

(Collingswood Synod)

Collingswood, New Jersey, November 23-27, 1956

In order to establish a legal Synod, by the
power and authority of the constitution, three of
the presbyteries of the denomination— New Jersey,
California, and Kentucky-Tennessee Presbyteries
—acted independently and, under general powers
given to them in the constitution, declared them-
selves "free and independent" of the 19th Synod,
refusing to recognize it or any Synod established
by the officers of that illegal body. The ministers
in these three presbyteries then, under the
constitution, signed the necessary petitions, gave
the required notice, and a Synod convened in
Collingswood, N. J., meeting one day previous to
the one illegally called to meet at Columbus. A
total of 64 voting delegates, 24 corresponding
members and visiting brethren registered, and
more than 90 indicated in communications that
they were fully in accord with the Collingswood
Syond.

The call for the Twentieth Synod read as
follows:

A call is hereby made for a Twentieth
Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church to
be held in Collingswood, New Jersey, Friday,
November 23, 1956, at 10 a.m. and con-
tinuing through November 27, 1956. Such
a synod is being called for the purpose:

(1) Of reconsidering all actions relative
to the American Council of Christian
Churches, the International Council of Chris-

tian Churches, The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions, Faith The-
ological Seminary, and other independent
agencies.

(2) Of taking any and all actions within
the limits of the constitution relative to com-
plaints which have been made against the
various presbyteries.

(3) Of re-establishing fellowship and
confidence among the brethren and churches
and to take any and all actions necessary and
proper and that may be desired for a synod
under the constitution: and to set the time
and place for the next General Synod.

Signed: Carl McIntike, moderator of the

Presbijtertj of New Jersey

F. Burton Toms, moderator of the

Kentucky-Tennessee Presbytery

John E. Janbaz, moderator of the

Presbytery of California.

The call was found in order.

The Rev. Carl Mclntire, D.D., president of the
International Council of Christian Churches and
pastor of the Collingswood Bible Presbyterian
Church, was elected moderator of the Synod. The
Rev. John E. Janbaz served as vice-moderator.
The Rev. A. Franklin Faucette was elected to
serve as acting stated clerk, and the Rev.
Emmanuel Peters was elected to assist him. The
Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms was re-elected statistician.

The theme of the Synod was "A 20th Century
Synod Promoting a 20th Century Reformation."
The text was, "Remove not the ancient landmark,"
and "Fellowship" and "Confidence" were key
words. The fellowship at the Collingswood Synod
matched that which existed when the Bible Pres-
byterian Church began 18 years before.

A number of resolutions were passed. The first
resolutions restored the Collingswood Synod to
participation in the ACCC and ICCC, endorsed
The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign
Missions and other agencies, gave evidence for the
legality of the Synod, endorsed Dr. Israel Gueiros'
stand for the faith in Brazil, and expressed sym-
pathy for suffering brethren in all Communist
lands. A memorial resolution was passed express-
ing sorrow and a deep sense of personal loss by
the death of two brethren active in the testmony —
the Rev. Clarence Laman and Elder Weidner
Titzck, both of the New Jersey Presbytery. Some
of the resolutions follow:
Concerning the Councils

Inasmuch as we in the Bible Presbyterian
Church have faced the apostasy in the form

Twentieth General Synod, Collingswood, N. J., 1956 (Collingswood Synod)

of the National Council of Churches and the
World Council of Churches and have seen
the need of an organization of the forces
taking a true Biblical stand; and

Whereas, we helped in the formation of
the American Council of Christian Churches
and the International Council of Christian
Churches; and

Whereas, we have seen the growth and
blessing of God upon these Councils and have
witnessed great good from their work both at
home and upon the world level; and

Whereas, we have deeply regretted that
a few of our men have failed to see the
importance of these great issues and the
benefits derived from the ACCC and the
ICCC and have joined with the enemies of
the cause of Christ in criticizing the work of
the ACCC and the ICCC and finding fault
with such things as statistical reports and the
policy and leadership of the Councils; and

Whereas, we believe that the men in the
Councils have made very complete and
satisfactory and true explanations on all these
questions;

Therefore be it resolved that we reaffirm
our faith in the position and purpose of the
ACCC and ICCC and do herein assure them
of our wholehearted support and co-opera-
tion.
Action Concerning the American Council of
Christian Churches

Whereas, the American Council of Chris-
tian Churches was established in the United
States of America in 1941; and

Whereas, the Fourth General Synod of
the Bible Presbyterian Church participated
in the formation of the Council bv the
appointment of a committee for such a
purpose; and

Whereas, the American Council was
established as an "agency" for Christian co-

operation among Christian churches main-
taining their loyalty to the historic Christian
faith; and

Whereas, the constitution of the Bible
Presbyterian Church (Form of Government,
Chap. 2, Sec. 4) declares the church's
"willingness to hold Christian fellowship with
all other such branches of the Church," which
branches are described as "bodies, whether
local, national or international, which in their
creed and practice hold fast to the historic
Christian faith, which require for admission
into their communion what Christ requires for
salvation, and which subordinate their
authority to that of the Word of God are true
churches of Christ, despite differences in
government or in matters not essential to the
faith which mav have caused their separation
from others"; and

Dr. Carl Mclntire,
moderator of

Twentieth General Synod,
1956

Whereas, the American Council has been
used of God in the leadership of the
Twentieth Century Reformation, in clarifying
the issues of separation from apostasy, in
opening the doors for chaplains, free radio
time on the networks, in promoting faith and
freedom rallies and meetings, in challenging
the leadership of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., in success-

fully resisting the appointment of an
ambassador to the Vatican, in taking the
initiative in calling for an International
Council of Christian Churches which was
successfully organized in 1948, in initiating
the Evangelical International Sunday School
Lessons, in various ways exposing and
resisting modernism and Communism in the
churches, and in various manners encouraging
and strengthening the brethren of like
precious faith to stand loyal to Jesus Christ;
and

Whereas, a Nineteenth Synod which is
not recognized as legal by this Twentieth
Synod renounced and withdrew from the
American Council of Christian Churches; and
Whereas, the criticisms of the American
Council have been satisfactorily answered
and were in themselves not sufficient to
justify the disruption of fellowship with an
agency and brethren who were carrying on
the great battle of the day for the faith once
delivered unto the saints;

"Therefore, be it resolved that this
Twentieth Synod, meeting in Collingswood,
New Jersey, November 26, 1956, does here
and now reaffirm its adherence to the pre-
amble and doctrinal statement of the
constitution of the American Council in the
form in which it exists on this date, and does
here now apply to the American Council of
Christian Churches to be received and
recognized as a general constituent member
of the Council.

"This action taken by the Synod under
Chapter 10, Section 6, of the Form of
Government, dealing with Agencies and
Christian enterprises."
A similar resolution restoring the Bible Pres-
byterian Synod to the International Council of
Christian Churches as a constituent member was
taken, reminding the Synod of the ministers in
the Bible Presbyterian Church who had been in
places of leadership in the ICCC, including Dr.
Carl Mclntire, Collingswood, N. J., president of
the Council; Dr. J. Gordon Holdcroft, Philadel-
phia, president of The Associated Missions of the
Council; the Hon. James E. Bennet, New York
City; Dr. John W. Murray and Dr. Allan A.
MacRae of Philadelphia, members of the executive
committee.

This action of the Collingswood Synod in
placing the church back in the American and
International Councils of Christian Churches

rejoiced the hearts of many Christian people both
in the United States and in other lands as is
shown by the following quotation from Pastor
Timothy Tow, moderator of the Life Church
(Bible Presbyterian) Singapore:

"May I state that while my love for the
fathers and brethren who are not with us in
Collingswood is the same, I regret that their action
in withdrawing from the ICCC naturally
embarrasses those of us who are trying to witness
against the apostasy overseas. But such magnif-
icent testimonies as the Biblical Witness and the
Bible Times are the Lord's through His ICCC
servants. How much darker the apostasy would
have become if such beacons of truth had not
been raised by the efforts of the ICCC. (I am
speaking as one in the Orient. ) Being fully per-
suaded that the ICCC is an instrument of God,
and since the 20th Synod at Collingswood is
endeavoring to keep it from falling, I have no
alternative but to cast my lot with it. May the
Almighty Father look down upon you and cause
His countenance to shine upon you till Jesus
comes! "

By these actions the Collingswood Synod
preserved the historic and consistent testimony of
the Bible Presbyterian Church since 1937 and,
in time, became the only Bible Presbyterian
Church which has not made any changes in
doctrine and form of government. The church
has continued in liberty, confidence, and blessing.

It is interesting to observe, in general, that
those who have been the founders of the various
local churches and understand the issues on which
the church was born have stood with the Collings-
wood Synod, while later additions to the church
have been more receptive to a softer approach
and to making the denomination more like the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Seven ministers who were present at the First
General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church
in 1938 participated in a round table discussion
on, "The Foundations of the Bible Presbyterian
Church," at the Collingswood Synod in 1956.
They were: Rev. Carl Mclntire, D.D., Rev. J. U.
Selwyn Toms, Rev. Wayne Monroe, Rev. Philip
duB. Arcularius, Rev. Allan A. MacRae, PkD.,
Rev. Joseph F. Misicka, and the Rev. A. Franklin
Faucette.

Dr. Allan A. MacRae, president of Faith
Theological Seminary, presented a lengthy
resolution consisting of twelve sections dealing
with the legality of the Collingswood Synod.
Extensive quotations from the constitution con-

cerning the meeting of the General Synod proved
that the 19th General Synod was illegally called
and issued orders beyond its powers as defined in
the constitution. The resolution ended: "Therefore
be it resolved that we, the members of the 20th
General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church,
meeting in lawful session at CoUingswood, N. J.,
in the very building where the First General Synod
of our Church was constituted, do declare our
conviction that we represent the true and
constitutional succession of the Bible Presbyterian
Church."

The Women's Synodical met concurrently with
the 20th Synod and opened with a luncheon
served to 103 ladies. The theme was "Pressing
Toward the Mark."

Twenty-first General Synod

(CoUingswood Synod)

CoUingswood, New Jersey, November 2-6, 1957

The Twenty-first General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church met in CoUingswood, N. J.,
November 2 to 6, 1957, and elected the Rev. Clyde
J. Kennedy, D.D., pastor of the Bible Presbyterian
Church (Unaffiliated), Tacoma, Wash., as
moderator. The Hon. James E. Bennet served as
vice-moderator; the Rev. A. Franklin Faucette
was re-elected stated clerk with the Rev. John E.
Janbaz assistant clerk. Elder Clayton A. Bancroft
was elected treasurer.

The Synod's sessions were a part of the
dedicatory services of the CoUingswood Church
and the delegates participated in the formal
church dedication on Sunday afternoon, November
3, when Dr. Allan A. MacRae, president of Faith
Theological Seminary, brought the dedicatory
message.

The Bible Presbyterian Church was organized
in CoUingswood when the First General Synod
met in the Tabernacle, September 6-8, 1938. Of
the past 21 Synods, five have been held in
CoUingswood.

The sessions were spent in prayer, the hearing
of Bible messages, discussion of problems, and the
encouragement of the brethren in the work of
the Lord. The Synod was considered by many
to have been one of the best in the history of the
church. The statistician, the Rev. J. U. Selwyn
Toms, also the moderator of the First General
Synod, reported that 40 churches recognize the
CoUingswood Synod. Sixty-six voting delegates
were in attendance, including 43 ministers and
23 elders. Twelve other "unaffiliated" churches

100

look to the Synod and six of these submitted
statistical reports.

The Twenty-first General Synod reaffirmed
the historic resolution adopted by the First
General Synod declaring the Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A. to be officially apostate. The
Twenty-first Synod appealed to brethren in the
United Presbyterian Church not to go into union
with the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
Numerous resolutions were adopted dealing with
current problems before the churches and the
country.

The Synod followed the historic position of
the church in working primarily through
independent agencies. It was early decided that
the church would not control all the agencies and
build up a powerful ecclesiastical machine to
control the valuable interests.

Time was spent discussing problems which
had been created by the division of the Synod and
of the Bible Presbyterian Church and particularly
the position of the "Columbus Synod." This group
has broken all ties with the American and Inter-
national Councils of Christian Churches, has
turned away from the support of the historic
agencies of the church, and instead has set up and
endorses only agencies which the Synod itself
owns and directs. This includes official boards of
foreign missions, home missions. Christian
education, a college and a seminary, and an
official publication.

The CoUingswood Synod believes, as was re-
emphasized this year, that the future of the real
Presbyterian testimony in the United States rests
in the free movement which is thoroughly Presby-
terian in doctrine and polity, but which does not
build up a powerful ecclesiastical system with
vested interests at the top which can carry all
with it into a church union, as is now the sorrowful
experience of thousands of United Presbyterians.

The CoUingswood Synod received two pres-
byteries into its membership: the Presbytery of
the Northwest (including Western Canada) and
the Presbytery of the Great Plains. Reports were
heard from eleven of the historic, independent
agencies endorsed by the Synod.

Memorial resolutions were adopted concerning
the death of two ministers, the Rev. Frank Beatty,
D.D., and the Rev. Roy Talmage Brumbaugh,
D.D., and Elder Harry Clark of Grove City, Pa.,
and three CoUingswood elders — Clyde Blazer,
Ora Jordan, and Frank Seider. The Synod also
expressed its appreciation for the courageous
testimony given in America by Pastor Robert

'4^^'{Wi-

Twenty-first General Synod, Collingswood, N. J., 1957

Slokenbergs on a recent tour with the refugee
team sponsored by the American Council of Chris-
tian Churches, and sympathy to the members of
the London Latvian EvangeUcal Lutheran Church
in the Homegoing of their leader. This church
recently decided to join the International Council
of Christian Churches.

Dr. Clyde J. Kennedy,
moderator of tfie
Twenty-first Synod, 1957

.1 t'-^---lML

\ ^ ' -^

First Building of the Collingswood Presbyterian Church,
December, 1902

Tent of Blessing and the Wooden Tabernacle,
Collingswood, 1938

First Sunday School in the New Building, 1951

20th Century Reformation Center, the "Book Store"

101

Bible Presbyterian Fellowship Hall, Sunday School,
and Church as seen from the parking lot, 1957

The annual meeting of the Women's Synodical
Society, meeting concurrently with the Synod,
used as its theme, "Laying Firm Foundations on
Jesus Christ." One hundred eighty-one ladies
attended the opening meeting. During the
meetings an excellent debate was held on the
subject, ^'Resolved, that Home and Foreign Mis-
sions Should Receive Equal Emphasis." The
judges rendered a tie decision.

In a series of resolutions, the 1957 Collings-
wood Synod took the following actions:

— Commended the Committee on Un-
American Activities of the House of Repre-
sentatives for exposing Communist infiltration
into our national life.

— Commended Commentator Fulton Lewis,
Jr., for his public exposure of the Communist
line presented in the Methodist publications
—the Adult Student for October, 1957, and
Classmate for November 4, 1957.

— Called on the New York Times to report
conventions of the American Council of Chris-
tian Churches and minority groups not a part
of the ecumenical movement.

— Protested the report of the National
Council-sponsored regional conference in
Oberlin, Ohio, on "The Nature of the Unity
We Seek," and gave as the only basis of
unity the inspired Word of God.

— Repudiated coexistence with Communism.

— Decried the publication of the Revised
Standard Version of the Bible by the
American Bible Society and urged Christians
to support only societies that will honor God
by true translations.

— Counseled all churches to insure that their
gifts, prayers, and efforts aid only such mis-
sion boards as are definite and clear in their
active opposition to all forms of modernism
and apostasy.

102

— Called on each individual church in its
communion to establish additional Sunday
schools or Bible classes.

— Opposed the proposed Federal Church
Census on the grounds that it would con-
tribute to the trend toward a govemmentally
controlled church.

— Censured Billy Graham for his giving tacit
approval to modernism and commended all
who have taken a separated stand.

— Called on Christians to reject the Revised
Standard Version of the Bible which includes
the Apocrypha, and to distribute information
to others concerning the evils of this transla-
tion.

— Called on all Christians to look for the
Lord's return, to seek continuous revival, and
to establish true churches.

Twenty-second General Synod

Collingswood, New Jersey, October 22-27, 1958

The Rev. Charles E. Richter, Collingswood,
N. J., was elected moderator of the Twenty-
second General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church as it opened on Wednesday, October 22,
1958, in the Bible Presbyterian Church of
Collingswood. The sessions of the Synod
continued through October 27.

Sixty-two voting delegates were in attendance,
including 43 ministers. According to statistics
announced by the Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms,
statistician, 46 Bible Presbyterian churches
recognize the Collingswood Synod. Ten addi-
tional churches, unaffiliated, are associated in the
Bible Presbyterian Church Association. The total
number represented in the Bible Presbyterian
Church as in the American Council of Christian
Churches is 5,824.

A resolution asking the moderator and the Rev.
Carl Mclntire to write a letter reporting the Synod
and its significance is as follows:

This Twenty-second General Synod of
the Bible Presbyterian Church ( CoUingswood
Synod) desires to record in its minutes its
thanks to Almighty God for His special and
providential care in preserving us and keep-
ing us together during these recent years.

We are grateful for the manifestations of
brotherly love, mutual confidence and trust,
and the manner in which we have been able
to conduct our meetings in good order and
peace for the glory of God.

Twenty-second General Synod, 1958

We are thankful for the churches which in
their freedom under our constitution have
recognized this Synod as maintaining and
preserving the historic position of the Bible
Presbyterian Church as it relates to the nature
of Presbyterianism, our co-operation with
other brethren in the Councils— the American
Council of Christian Churches and the Inter-
national Council of Christian Churches— and
our support of the independent agencies. We
would remind ourselves that the Articles of
Association, the first official document
initiating this church, referred specifically to
The Independent Board for Presbyterian For-
eign Missions and Faith Theological
Seminary, which we would encourage.

Finally, we request the moderator, the
Rev. Charles E. Richter, and the pastor of the
host church, the Rev. Carl Mclntire, jointly to
prepare a letter reporting this Synod and
interpreting its significance in the light of
recent developments to all Bible Presby-
terians, with an appeal that all Bible Presby-
terians unite in maintaining and preserving
this movement in accordance with its original
principles, position, and faith.
Declaring that the first message of the newly
merged United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
revealed that denomination's departure from the
historic Christian faith, the 22nd General Synod
of the Bible Presbyterian Church appealed to all
God-fearing and Bible-believing Presbyterians to
forsake their association with that denomination
and join Twentieth Century Reformation
churches.

Other statements on issues vital to Christians
concerned the Synod's inability to endorse the
Billy Graham crusades, with reasons for this
position; an appeal to the U.S. Government to
resist every effort to bring Red China into the
United Nations; and a statement that all men
ought to be free to elect voluntarily whether to
join or not to join a labor organization, and any

law that deprives anyone of this freedom violates
inherent individual rights set forth in the Bible
and in the Constitution of the United States.

The theme of the Synod was "Boldness for
Christ," around which the evening inspirational
messages were centered. Vice-moderator was Dr.
J. Philip Clark, general secretary of The Independ-
ent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. Dr.
A. Franklin Faucette continued as stated clerk
assisted by the Rev. John E. Janbaz.

The Synod heard reports from the 12 approved
agencies. Dr. Carl Mclntire, president of the
International Council of Christian Churches,
reported in full on the Fourth Plenary Congress
of the Council held in Brazil.

The Svnod recorded its gratitude to God for
three brethren, fellow bond servants and com-
panions in tribulation, who since the last Synod
have heard the last summons of the Church's
Head and have entered into Glory. They are the
Rev. J. F. Minor Simpson, the Rev. Wayne
Monroe, and the Rev. Samuel Arendt.

The Women's Synodical Society centered its
program around the theme, "Sowing the Seed in
Turbulent Times." Special reports used the sub-
topics, "Sowing the Seed Beside the Persian Gulf,"
"Sowing the Seed at Home," "Seed Time," and
"Harvest." More than 150 women were present.

Charles E. Richter, D.D.

Dr. Charles E. Richter was bom and reared
in Texas. He was educated in the schools of that
state, and after finishing a course in business ad-
ministration he became connected with the First
State Bank of Gainesville, Texas. Early in life he
felt a call to engage in full-time Christian ministry.
This desire was interrupted by a call to serve his
country in the United States Navy during World
War I. After almost two years in the military
service he returned home to resume his studies

103

for the ministry. He received his Bible training
and instruction in practical Christian work at the
Moody Bible Institute of Chicago and his theo-
logical studies from the old Lane Seminary, and
later was a special student at Dallas Theological
Seminary.

Dr. Charles E. Richter,
moderator of
Twenty-second Synod

Dr. Richter was ordained by the Amarillo
Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.,
and served in that denomination for nearly 17
years, holding pastorates in Memphis, Worthan,
and Dallas, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif. In
1933, he was elected as a commissioner to the
General Assembly meeting in Cleveland, Ohio.

He withdrew from the Presbyterian Church,
U.S.A., more than 29 years ago because of the
constant encroachment and spread of religious
modernism within its ranks and with little hope
of the General Assembly making any real efforts
to correct this condition. For several years he
engaged in an independent ministry and organ-
ized and pastored two fundamental Bible churches.
He served the Bible Presbyterian Church of Min-
neapolis as pastor from 1944 to 1948. After a brief
ministry in the Union Bible Church of Lincoln,
Nebr., he accepted a call to become associated
with Dr. Carl Mclntire in the Bible Presbyterian
Church of Collingswood, N. J. This association has
continued now for nearly 18 years, and through
the 20th Century Reformation Hour program he
has become known by the vast listening audience
as "Amen Charlie." He was elected moderator of
the 23rd General Synod.

Faith Theological Seminary at its 25th Com-
mencement conferred an honorary doctorate
degree on him for his outstanding Christian serv-
ice and loyalty to the Word of God.

104

Twenty-third General Synod

Collingswood, New Jersey, October 21-26, 1959

The 23rd General Synod of the Bible Presby-
terian Church, meeting in Collingswood, N. J.,
October 21-26, elected Dr. Arthur G. Slaght, pastor
of the South Baltimore Bible Presbyterian Church,
to be moderator. Dr. Slaght is also chairman of
the Radio & Audio Film Commission of the
American Council of Christian Churches and
chairman of the Broadcasting Commission of the
International Council of Christian Churches. He
is vice-president of the Independent Board for
Presbyterian Home Missions, a member of the
Board of Directors of Faith Theological Seminary,
and a co-operating trustee of Bob Jones Univer-
sity. He is president of Bible Recordings in Balti-
more.

Seventy voting commissioners participated in
the Synod, coming from New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania, California, South Carolina, Del-
aware, Montana, Florida, Washington, North
Carolina, Missouri, New Mexico, Illinois,
Nebraska, Ohio, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia,
Minnesota, and Alberta, Canada.

Fellowship, devotion, prayer, zeal pervaded
the meetings — both the business and inspirational
assemblies. The theme for the inspirational
messages was, "Steadfastness in a Day of Con-
fusion."

The need of more intense and untiring evan-
gelistic efforts and personal visitation and contacts
was stressed and climaxed in Saturday's all-day
evangelistic program. Featured on this program,
which the Synod held jointly with the New Jersey
Council of Christian Churches, were Dr. Bob
Jones, Sr., of Bob Jones University, Greenville,
S. C, and Dr. John R. Rice of The Sword of the
Lord, Wheaton, 111., both well-known and active
evangelists.

A number of resolutions were adopted by the
Synod: "Study Book of the United Church of
Canada," "Carnell's Attack on Fundamentalists,"
"Presbyterian Church of Korea," "Fifth World
Order Study Conference," and "Agency for
Sunday School Literature."

The Synod expressed its approval and endorse-
ment of 15 agencies.

Memorial resolutions were adopted for three
elders: Elder Frank E. LeGates of North Olmsted,
Ohio; Dr. Ralph W. Duncan of Lansdowne. Pa.;
and Elder James H. PoUoch.

Twenty-third General Synod, 1959

The following resolutions were adopted:
Fifth World Order Study Conference

Whereas, the Fifth World Order Study
Conference, convened by the National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A., November 18-23, 1958, in Cleveland,
Ohio, with 600 churchmen registered, sub-
sequently issued a 5,000-word letter directed
to 144,000 churches, stating that "churchmen
need to reassess their attitudes to relation-
ships with countries having Communist
parties in control of government," and urging
1. The acceptance of the Communist
propaganda line of peaceful co-existence
based on the unscriptural concept of the
universal brotherhood of man and
"love for neighbor" in the place

Dr. Arthur G. Slaght,
moderator of
Twenty-third Synod

of obedience to the Word of God.
The complete fallacy of peaceful coexist-
ence is exposed by Khrushchev's recent
statement upon arrival in Moscow after
his peace mission to the U.S.A.:

"There are forces in the United States
working against us .... To disregard this
would mean showing weakness in the
struggle against these evil forces, these
evil spirits.

"These forces should be exposed, they
must be shown to the world, publicly

whipped, they must be subjected to the
torments of Hades. ( Laughter, prolonged
applause.)" — New York Times, Sep-
tember 29, 1959, page 20, "Report by
Khrushchev in Moscow on Return From
His United States Tour."

2. The recognition of Red China by
the U.S.A. and her subsequent accept-
ance into the United Nations, resulting
in a shameful betrayal of the people of
"Free China" now in exile in Formosa.
Therefore, be it resolved that the 23rd
General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church ( CoUingswood Synod), meeting in
the Bible Presbyterian Church, CoUingswood,
N. J., October 21-26, call upon Christians
everywhere to repudiate this pronouncement
as a direct violation of Christian principles,
and further urge Christians within the frame-
work of the National Council to separate from
it and affiliate with Bible-believing churches
of the American Council of Christian
Churches.
CarnelVs Case for Orthodoxy

We, the members of the Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church, meeting in
CoUingswood, N. J., in October, 1959, wish
to express our regret at the confusion that is
being introduced into Christian thinking by
men who caU themselves orthodox and yet
vehemently attack those who take a militant
stand for the cause of Christ.

As a current example of this attitude,
we would cite the recently published book
by E. J. Camell, formerly president and now
professor of Apologetics in Fuller The-
ological Seminary, entitled, The Case for
Orthodox Theology. The book contains little
that could properly be described as "a case
for orthodox theology." Instead, it abounds in
sarcastic personal attacks on Fundamentalists.
It even contains statements that undermine
Biblical authority. Thus Camell speaks of

105

"the truncated ethics of the Old Testament"
(p. 55), and of the danger of "an odious
Bibhcism" (p. 33). He declares that "purely
literary questions cannot be settled by an
appeal to Christ's testimony" (p. 39). He says
that Jesus "implied that sinners are justified
by works" (p. 57), but insists that such a
conclusion should not affect our thinking on
this point, because, according to Carnell, "it
was never Jesus' intention to develop a
systematic theology" (p. 58).

On pages 52-59, especially the latter, he
practically limits Biblical authority to the
two books of Romans and Galatians! On page
102 he states that orthodoxy really says "that
inspiration, at times, ensures no more than
an infallible account of error." On page 111
he says, "Orthodoxy may never officially
decide whether the Holy Spirit corrected the
documents from which the Chronicler drew
his information." This logically would mean
that any part of the Bible, including the
Gospels, may be only a precise copy of
erroneous documents.

Such an attitude we strongly repudiate.
We agree, instead, with the Apostle Paul,
who held that "all scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable" (2 Tim.
3:15), and with the Lord Jesus Christ, who
called men "fools and slow of heart " if they
failed "to believe all that the prophets have
spoken" (Luke 24:25).

Theological controversy has rarely degen-
erated to the level of the acrimonious personal
attacks leveled by Carnell against Funda-
mentalists. One hunts in vain for any sug-
gestion of the sweet love of Christ. We find
only sarcasm and bitterness. The last third of
the book is mainly a tirade of abuse against
those who take the Bible literally. Funda-
mentalists are branded as ignorant (pp. 114,
118, 119, etc., etc.), bigoted, full of pride,
lacking in social grace. Carnell says,
"Defending the Bible is a comfortable
egoistic accomplishment; battling modernists
is a pleasing palliative for pride" ( p. 125 ) . He
accuses "the fundamentalist" of "outraging
the natural instincts of the body " by taking a
stand against dancing (p. 124). He berates
the Fundamentalists for spending their time
handing out tracts or seeking to win souls —
activities that Carnell plainly considers far
inferior to "founding hospitals" or seeking to
establish social justice (p. 123). Carnell even

calls such a great Christian scholar as J.
Gresham Machen a "peril of orthodoxy" (p.
114 f.).

When professors who have formerly pro-
moted the truth of God turn their talents to
raving against men who believe the Bible and
seek to win souls to Christ, we may well hope
that it is just another sign that we are in the
last dark days before our blessed Lord's
return. Formerly a seminary usually stood by
the Word of God at least 50 or 100 years
before turning against the purpose of its
founders and retaining such a man on its
faculty. May this sad occurrence lead Chris-
tians everywhere to see the need of constant
vigilance, and of always testing the spirits, to
see if they be of God ( 1 John 4:1).
More than 140 Bible Presbyterian women
attended the day-long meeting of the Women's
Synodical Society on October 24, 1959. The theme,
"Redeeming the Time," was excellently carried
out during each of the sessions of the day. Mrs.
Carl Mclntire, president of the Society, presided
over the business sessions. Throughout the day,
the emphasis to lay hold of God's might and power
came as a challenge that here is the beginning
place for women who would "redeem the time"
in a day of ever-increasing evil, both by holding
forth the Word of Life to the lost, and raising a
standard of truth before the eyes of the deceived.

Twenty-fourth General Synod

Collingswood, New Jersey, October 19-24, 1960

The Rev. John E. Janbaz of San Bernardino,
Calif., was elected moderator of the 24th General
Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church meeting
in Collingswood, N. J., and the Rev. Lynn Gray
Gordon of Seattle, Wash., was appointed vice-
moderator. The sessions began on Wednesday,
October 19, and continued through Monday, Oc-
tober 24, 1960.

Voting delegates numbered 52 ministers and
20 elders, coming from California, Delaware,
Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri Nebraska,
New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North
Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and
Washington. Five new churches were received
into the Synod.

Opening the Synod was a stirring message on
the theme, "Rebuilding the Walls" (Neh. 2:17),
delivered by the Rev. Dr. Arthur G. Slaght,
retiring moderator.

106

Twenty-fourth General Synod, 1960

A timely resolution concerning the admission
of Red China into the United Nations was passed.
It read as follows:

The 24th General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church, meeting in Collingswood,
N. J., repudiates the efforts of the World
Council of Churches, National Council of
Churches, and all other such efforts,
ecclesiastical or secular, to bring about the
recognition of Red China and its member-
ship in the United Nations. The Red Chinese
Government is responsible for the death of
millions of its people, the expulsion of
thousands of missionaries, the destruction of
the family system and its replacement with a
communal form of life, aggressive actions
against neighboring countries such as Tibet,
North Korea, and Indo-China.

Therefore, this body condemns as sinful
and ungodly efforts to give recognition to
such a government, and calls upon free men,
churches, and nations also to condemn all
such governments which persecute, enslave,
and destroy those under their jurisdiction;

Further, we call for the liberation of
captive peoples to enjoy the inalienable rights
God has decreed for His creation.

Further, contrary to the claim that by not
recognizing Red China we are isolating
600,000,000 people, we state that by
recognizing the Communist regime, we would
give approval to the tyrannical Red govern-
ment and thereby isolate 600,000,000 from
freedom.

Further, we call upon Almighty God to
visit His judgment upon the forces of Com-
munism and their allies.
U.S. Security Committees

Whereas, ( 1 ) our nation adopted a Con-
stitution that guarantees our basic freedom;
and ( 2 ) a man who does not use his freedom
to defend his freedom does not deserve his

freedom; and (3) all agencies of our Govern-
ment, therefore, have a moral obligation to
defend and preserve our God-given freedoms;
and (4) one of our most effective agencies
that has defended our freedoms by exposing
our enemies has been the House Committee
on Un-American Activities, and the Judiciary
Committee of the Senate; and (5) these
effective agencies have come under severe
attack by forces alien to our American way of
life;

Therefore be it resolved, ( 1 ) that the 24th
General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church, convened in Collingswood, N. J.,
October 20, 1960, commend to the nation the
continued existence of these agencies; and
(2) that these committees be encouraged to
press the battle by their continued investiga-
tion of foreign ideologies in all areas of life,
including the area of rehgion.
Missions

Whereas, the command of our Lord that
we should go into all the world and preach
the Gospel is clear and definite; and.

Whereas, the Bible Presbyterian Church
has from the beginning been a missionary
church, owing its very existence, indeed, to
a struggle for the truth of God as opposed to
modernistic policies and modernist men in the
official Board of Foreign Missions in the then
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (now the
United Presbyterian Church), which struggle
for a return to the definite Gospel of redemp-
tion may be said to have been the opening
move in what has now become the Twentieth
Century Reformation movement; and

Whereas, it is a well-known fact that
modernist policies, propaganda, and men are
now more prominent in the counsels and work
of many foreign and home mission boards
than they were a quarter of a century ago,
and moreover are very definitely tied to the

107

ecumenical purposes and objectives of the
World Council of Churches;
Therefore, resolved:

1. That we again call the attention of the
Bible Presbyterian Church to the fact that
Missions, Home and Foreign, should be an
integral part of the program of our whole
denomination and of every local church, large
or small, and also should be dear to the heart
of every member of the church;

2. That we call attention once more of
every true Mission at home or abroad to the
primary purpose of Missions, which is the
preaching and teaching of the Gospel of
redemption, the first and foremost task of
every Mission and missionary; and

3. That we also urge that we recognize
the need of steadfastly opposing the World
Council of Churches' ecumenical program of
endeavoring to bring their supposed kingdom
of God as the fulfillment of our Lord's prayer
in John 17:21-23 or any other Scripture which
speaks of the purposes of God for His Church
and people; and

4. That we call the attention of all our
churches and of all our people to the fact
that the whole Twentieth Century Reforma-
tion movement, maintaining, as it does, the
necessity of a return to the Faith once
delivered to the saints, is a real part of the
missionary task of the church in our day
because the Twentieth Century Reformation
movement reinforces Missions at home and
abroad, and Missions, home and foreign, if
properly conducted, reinforce the whole
movement for a real return to the Faith; and

5. That, further, we commend The
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign
Missions and the Independent Board for Pres-
byterian Home Missions, the agencies through
which the Bible Presbyterian Church con-
ducts the greater part of its Mission work,
for their clear recognition of their respon-
sibilities in this respect and their earnest
efforts to promote and reinforce, through the
whole Twentieth Century Reformation move-
ment, this witness to the Word of God and
the testimony of Jesus Christ on the whole
world level; and finally,

6. That, since the purposes of God stand
fast forever, we would urge all our churches
and church members not to be in any wise
discouraged or disheartened by the fact that
some who once apparently were fully one

with us in these great purposes and designs
have lost their vision and weakened in, or
lost completely, their once cherished devotion
to this great task.

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible

Since the Revised Standard Version of
the Bible is being widely distributed under
the recommendation of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., which
authorized and copyrighted it, we, the 24th
General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church, remind the Christian public of the
following facts:

1. The well-known Scripture of Isaiah
7:14 which is a prophecy of the virgin birth
of Christ has been changed. The word
"virgin" has been removed and the words "a
young woman " have been substituted.

2. The deity of Christ has been under-
mined, in that key passages in both the Old
and New Testaments have been removed,
toned down, or made to appear contradictory.

3. Dr. Luther A. Weigle, former head of
Yale University Divinity School and an out-
spoken modernist and former Federal Council
president, headed the translation committee.
Dr. Weigle has been affiliated with a number
of Communist-front organizations.

4. Many others on the committee have
been listed as affiliated with Communist-front
organizations and are extremely liberal in the-
ology and therefore have demonstrated them-
selves, in the above matters, to be biased,
imposing their liberal interpretation upon
their translation.

5. A member of the committee has
revealed that the work of the translators is in
the realm of ideas rather than translation of
text, thus opening the door to the widespread
doctrinal deviations of the Revised Standard
Version.

Therefore, be it resolved that this Synod
once again warn the Christian public against
the use of this liberal version of the Bible.
This Synod adopted eight memorial resolu-
tions honoring the memory of beloved leaders who
had gone to be with the Lord since the last Synod:
the Rev. Fred Stroud, pastor of the Bible Presby-
terian Church in Nashville, Tenn.; Elders George
Meek, Northeast Bible Presbyterian Church,
Philadelphia, Pa.; John N. Fiol of the South Balti-
more Bible Presbyterian Church; Frank H.

108

Simpson and Harry E. Sutton, both of Minerva,
Ohio; the Hon. James E. Bennet, New York City;
H. WiUis Reed, New York City; and John R.
Stewart of the Glendale Bible Presbyterian
Church, Bismarck, N. Dak.

The annual meeting of the Women's Synodical
Society was held October 22, 1960, at which time
187 Bible Presbyterian women registered from 43
churches. The program centered about the theme,
"Occupying Until He Comes." Mrs. Carl Mclntire,
Synodical president from 1956 to 1960, was
succeeded in office by Mrs. Vernon Judson, also of
the Collingswood Church.

Twenty-fifth General Synod

Collingswood, New Jersey, October 19-24, 1961

The Rev. J. Philip Clark, D.D., general secre-
tary of The Independent Board for Presbyterian
Foreign Missions, was elected moderator of the
Twenty-fifth General Synod of the Bible Presby-
terian Church meeting in Collingswood, N. J.,
October 19-24, 1961. Elder B. J. Bashaw, Collings-
wood, N. J., served as vice-moderator.

That Bible Presbyterianism was growing was
evidenced in many ways. Sixty-nine congregations
are now reporting to the Bible Presbyterian Synod.
Of these, only six are as yet unaffiliated. A high
point in the sessions was the reception of the
entire Presbytery of Oklahoma-Missouri, formerly
of the Upper Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
and the organizing of the new Presbytery of the
Southwest to include recently admitted Bible
Presbvterian Churches.

Worship and devotion were marks of the Svnod
where some necessary business was carried on but
where most of the attention was fixed solely upon
Christ, the risen Saviour, and His unchanging
Word. Major evening addresses were delivered by
the Rev. Clyde J. Kennedy, D.D., president of
Shelton College; Dr. J. Gordon Holdcroft, pres-
ident of The Associated Missions of the ICCC;
and Dr. Allan A. MacRae, president of Faith The-
ological Seminary. The theme of the Synod was,
"The Changeless Word in a Changing World."
Dr. Carl Mclntire, president of the International
Council of Christian Churches, gave the address
at the banquet on, "The Changeless Word and
the Twentieth Century Reformation."

The Women's Synodical Society brought
together 297 registered guests from 41 Bible Pres-
byterian Churches and 10 visiting churches,
representing 18 states and four countries —

Canada, Chile, Korea, and the Union of South
Africa.

The statistician reported a total of 5,307 com-
municants and 108 ministers belonging to the
Bible Presbyterian Church.

Three important resolutions adopted by the
Synod follow:

Harvey Cedars Bible Presbyterian Conference,
Inc.

Whereas, Harvey Cedars Bible Presby-
terian Conference, Inc., was established by
members of the Bible Presbyterian denom-
ination; and

Whereas, the Bible Presbyterian Church
has co-operated since the formation of the
Conference with the Conference and has
been a partaker of the blessings, the activities,
the purposes, and the identification with the
name of the Conference; and

Whereas, members of the Bible Presby-
terian denomination affiliated with this
church have been eliminated from the Board
of Trustees or have been compelled to resign
because they refused to be a party to the
diversion of the Conference from Bible Pres-
byterian purposes and ministries to that of
a strictly independent conference with dif-
ferent purposes; and

Whereas, the group now in control of the
Conference has amended the charter, chang-
ing the name and purposes and diverting
them from the Bible Presbvterian denomina-
tion; and

Whereas, the founders and former mem-
bers of the Conference who continue to this
day their membership in the Bible Presby-
terian Church have taken steps to regain the
Conference for Bible Presbyterian purposes;
and

Whereas, these leaders have constituted
themselves the Harvey Cedars Bible Presby-
terian Conference, Inc.; and

Whereas, the minutes of this Synod in
years past include the reports of the Con-
ference and its purposes as approved by the
Synod; and

Whereas, efforts were made by members
of this denomination to arbitrate the matter
to no avail;

Therefore, be it resolved that this Twenty-
fifth General Synod endorse and support the
efforts of the Harvey Cedars Bible Presby-
terian Conference, Inc., now constituted to
regain possession of the property at Harvey

109

Twenty-fifth General Synod, 1961

Cedars, New Jersey, and that the Harvey
Cedars Bible Presbyterian Conference, Inc.,
be placed again upon the list of approved
agencies as provided by the constitution of
the Bible Presbyterian denomination;

And, finally, that this Twenty-fifth
General Synod declares and avows that the
Conference was established for the purpose of
aiding this denomination, and this Synod
declares that the diversion of this Conference
constitutes a serious transgression of steward-
ship, trust, and basic principles of morality
taught in the Word of God.
The New Delhi Meeting of the World Council
of Churches

The 25th General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church, meeting in CoUingswood,
N. J., October 19-24, 1961, sounds this word
of warning to Christians throughout the world
and to all citizens of the free world regarding
the coming Third Assembly of the World
Council of Churches at New Delhi, India,
November 18 to December 6, 1961.

According to Ecumenical Press Service,
representing the World Council of Churches,
the best seller in the religious publishing field
this year, second only to the Bible, is the
preparatory booklet, "Jesus Christ, the Light
of the World," published by the World
Council of Churches for its Third Assembly,
November 18 to December 6, in New Delhi,
India. This booklet has been released in 33
languages. It constitutes a most deceptive
propaganda, designed to brainwash the
public in favor of a one-world church and a
one-world government.

Based on the public statements and
writings of the World Council leaders, it is
possible to predict that the following actions

110

and/ or effects will result from the New Delhi
Assembly :

1. The World Council of Churches
will once again provide a sounding board
for Communist propaganda under the
deceptive cover of the "church." Pro-
nouncements of the Assembly may be
expected to parrot the Communist line
regarding peaceful coexistence, disarma-
ment, admission of Red China into the
United Nations, nuclear testing, etc.

2. The World Council expects to
receive into full voting membership the
Russian Orthodox Church of Moscow
and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, in
spite of the fact that this church and its
leaders are completely controlled by the
Reds and are being used to further the
Communist cause throughout the world.

3. It is expected that at New Delhi
the merger of the International Mis-
sionary Council with the World Council
of Churches will be consummated. Such
concentration of ecclesiastical power in
the hands of theological liberals poses a
real threat to every true Biblical and
evangelical missionary and mission
organization.

4. The World Council may be
expected to make rapid strides toward
its goal of a one-world church, while at
the same time denying that it has any
such goal. "Church union" and "church
merger" are the magic words which have
captivated the minds of the World
Council liberals at the sacrifice of
Scriptural teaching and common sense.

5. The World Council of Churches
will make an effort to gain the fellowship

and membership of various evangelical
groups in an attempt to offset the factual
exposure of the unbelief of many of the
World Council leaders. We remind all
evangelical people that the Word of God
forbids the fellowship of believers with
unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14-17).

6. The World Council of Churches

may be expected to re-elect to some of

its highest offices leaders from Iron

Curtain country churches who are tools

and pawns of the world-wide Communist

conspiracy and not the true servants of

Jesus Christ and the church.

We therefore call upon all true believers

to openly repudiate and withdraw from the

World Council of Churches and we warn the

citizens of the free world not to accept the

pronouncements of the World Council of

Churches as though it were the voice of

"Biblical Christianity" and the "true church."

Bishop Pikes Heresy

The Bible Presbyterian Church which,
since its formation in 1938, has considered
itself to be the spiritual successor of the
historic Presbyterian Church in the United
States of America, which now is known as the
United Presbyterian Church, feels a respon-
sibilitv not only to Presbyterians but also now
to Episcopalians in view of the well-known
Blake-Pike proposal for the union of the
Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, and
the United Church of Christ.

With the Episcopalians and the United
Presbyterians having already voted to prepare
a plan of union, the Bible Presbyterians must
give a witness to the faith and the Biblical
concept of the church.

Bishop James A. Pike, in his published
declarations in the last few years, especially
the Christian Century article of December
21, 1960, on "How My Mind Has Changed,"
has revealed his unbelief and departure from
the most basic doctrines of the Christian faith.
The Bishop declared that statements in the
Apostles' Creed no longer could be accepted:
"There are several phrases in the creed that I
cannot affirm as literal prose sentences, but
I can certainly sing them — as a kind of a war
song picturing major convictions in poetic
terms." These prose sentences rejected were:
the ascension of Christ into Heaven, His
sitting "on the right hand of the Father," and
His being "conceived by the Holy Ghost, and

bom of the Virgin Mary." Further, he has
rejected the Trinity as a "particularly weak
and unintelligible philosophical organization
of the nature of God." As to the body of Christ
and the elect of God, Bishop Pike is unmis-
takably heretical. He said that "the kind of a
god I first believed in, who would limit
salvation to a select group of people who
happen to have heard the news and heard it
well ( Christians often interfere with its being
heard well) is an impossible god. As to this
god, 1 am now an atheist."

The failure of at least three bishops (as
required) to charge him with heresy and to
bring him to trial at the 60th Triennial Con-
vention has revealed to the entire Christian
world the inclusivist nature of the Protestant
Episcopal Church today. And the union of
the Episcopalians with the Presbyterians will
carrv into the United Church such blatant un-
believers as Bishop Pike.

The history of the Christian church
testifies that unjudged heresy and unbelief
within her bosom is the leaven which leavens
the whole lump and reduces the testimony of
the Church of Jesus Christ to impotence and
confusion.

This General Synod calls upon Christians
of all denominations to recognize the blatant
unbelief, unjudged yet honored in Bishop
Pike, and to refuse to have fellowship with
it in accordance with the commands of the
great Head of the Church.

Twenty-sixth General Synod

Collingswood, New Jersey, October 17-22, 1962

Emphasis on establishing new home mission
churches marked the Twenty-sixth General Synod
of the Bible Presbyterian denomination.

Meeting in Collingswood, N. J., October 17-22,
1962, the Synod was the largest and best attended
for many years. Dr. Albert B. Dodd, 86 years of
age, veteran missionary to China, was elected
moderator of the 26th Synod. The Rev. Philip
duB. Arcularius, founder of the Friends of Israel
Testimony to Christ, served as vice-moderator.
Other officers remained the same as last year. The
theme of the Synod was, "A Great Door for a
Great Work in Our Day."

The Rev. J. C. Maris, associate general
secretary of the International Council of Christian
Churches, from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ad-

111

Twenty-sixth General Synod, 1962

dressed the Synod on the topic, "Opportunities in
Co-operation." Dr. Allan A. MacRae, president of
Faith Theological Seminary, gave an address on
"Opportunities in Education."

In a major address on Friday evening, October
19, the Rev. Lynn Gray Gordon, formerly of
Seattle, Wash., general secretary of the Inde-
pendent Board for Presbyterian Home Missions,
indicated that "ecumenism and its drive for the
one-world church has changed the tenor of the
whole message which is being preached" in the
apostasy, and must be countered by our meeting
it with the pure Word of God. His topic was
"Opportunities for Extending Our Witness at
Home."

The Rev. Carl Mclntire, D.D., host pastor,
reported that his listening audience each morning
to the 20th Century Reformation Hour broadcast
has been estimated to be about 10 to 12 million
people, over approximately 350 radio stations. The
circulation of the Christian Beacon had also
reached a new high. "God has given us the broad-
cast because it is carrying the issues of the day —
and our agencies are, too," he said. Dr. Mclntire
gave the major address at the annual Synod
banquet on "There Are Many Friends." The film
strip, "Light in Amsterdam," a report of the Fifth
Plenary Congress of the ICCC, was shown
immediately preceding the message.

The Rev. Dwight R. Malsbary, missionary to
Korea, home on furlough for the first time in 14
years, gave a splendid address on the topic, "The
Missionary Looks at the American Church."

Men who attended the Paris meeting of the
World Council of Churches' central committee last
August reported to the Synod. The Rev. George
W. Fincke, pastor of the Bible Presbyterian
Church in Glendale, Calif., mentioned photo-
graphing successfully Prof. Josef L. Hromodka of
Czechoslovakia, who is in friendly agreement with
the stated clerk of the Reformed Church in

America. Dr. Hromadka was a recipient of the

Lenin Peace Prize, as was the Communist dictator

of Communist Cuba, Fidel Castro.

The Synod adopted a number of important

resolutions, as follows:

The Amsterdam Congress of the ICCC and the

Internatiorwl Missionary Conference

The 26th General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church expresses its thanks to
Almighty God for the presence of Ds. J. C.
Maris, European secretary of the Inter-
national Covmcil of Christian Churches. We
express to him the high esteem and encour-
agement of this Synod for his place of leader-
ship in the Twentieth Century Reformation
movement.

This Synod is especially grateful to
Almighty God for the Fifth Plenary Congress
of the ICCC held in Amsterdam, August 14-
20, 1962, and for the fact that so many
pastors, elders, and members of our churches,
together with missionaries from The Inde-
pendent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Mis-
sions, were in attendance.

We commend to our churches all of the
activities of the ICCC and call for prayer and
attendance by those able upon the following
meetings :

1. The American Section of Inter-
national Christian Youth Christmas
Conference, Chicago, December 27-29,
1962.

2. The International Conference on
the Preservation of Christian Churches
called by the Fifth Plenary Congress of
the ICCC, to be held in Montreal,
Canada, July 24, 25, 26, 1963. The
executive committee of the ICCC will be
in session, July 22 and 23; and the World
Council of Churches will hold an inter-
national meeting of its Department on

112

Faith and Order for the purpose of
promoting the development of a one-
world church.

3. The International Missionary Con-
ference called by the ICCC in co-opera-
tion with the Latin American Alliance of
Christian Churches, Mexico City, called
by the World Council of Churches'
Department on Missions and Evan-
gelism opening on the 8th and continuing
through the 20th.

4. The Sixth Plenary Congress of the
ICCC, Geneva, Switzerland, August 12-
21, 1965.

This 26th Synod is at present receiving the
blessings of the Fifth Plenary Congress and
they are of such permanent value to our
churches and to our ministry that we recom-
mend that every church in the Synod make
provision for the attendance of their pastor
upon the Geneva Conference. This Synod
rejoices in the fact that The Independent
Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions
has already decided to hold a missionary
conference of as many of its missionaries
as possible in Geneva, which will bring to
the Congress our mission leaders from over
the world. The Almighty God has been
pleased to give us the International Council
of Christian Churches with its 83 denomina-
tions.

Finally, this Synod commends to all our
churches and our people the Audio- Visual
report of the Fifth Congress, entitled, "Light
Over Amsterdam," in contrast to the earlier
film, "Darkness in New Delhi." It is the desire
of this Synod that all of our people under-
stand, pray for, and support the testimony of
the Twentieth Century Reformation move-
ment as represented not only in our Synod but
in the American Council of Christian
Churches and the International Council of
Christian Churches and their agencies —
International Christian Relief, the Associated
Missions of the ICCC, and International
Christian Youth.

Statements of National Council Leaders on Their

Return From Moscow

The 26th General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church, meeting in Collingswood,
N. J., October 17-22, 1962, deplores the state-
ments made by leaders of the National
Council of Churches upon their return from

their trip to Russia, August 25-September 14,
1962.

When these leaders ask us "not to con-
demn church leaders in the Soviet Union who
fail to oppose the policies of their govern-
ment," they are shielding and protecting
agents of the secret police who have been
placed in their positions to promote the
international Communist conspiracy through
the churches.

Endorsement of the Communist line for
peace was given, forgetting that the defini-
tion of peace to the Communist is world
domination under force. Here again American
clergymen are used to promote this aspect of
the Party line.

The statement that the delegation will
direct their energies toward general and com-
plete disarmament shows the failure of
American clergymen to understand the total
depravity of man. We cannot disarm in the
face of an enemy who has sworn to "bury us"
and who boasted that our grandchildren will
live under Communism. Rather than disarm,
we need to strengthen our defenses.

The entire Christian approach to the
present crisis cannot be one of coexistence
but must be one of militant resistance, with an
earnest prayer for speedy liberation of those
enslaved.

Communism is using the church as its
privileged sanctuary in a most effective way
to win the cold war.

Bible Classes

Inasmuch as the course of history reveals
to us that Christendom has turned away from
the Scriptural injunctions to preach to every
generation the whole counsel of God;

And Whereas, this is a sin in the sight of
Almighty God;

And Whereas, God punishes sin and has
put His hand against His people, allowing
them to drift into darkness, turning their
churches over to the modernists and apostates,
withdrawing His blessings from their nation
and rendering them powerless;

And Whereas, it is evident today that
people are groping their way through the
darkness looking for the True Light;

And Whereas, many of our Bible Presby-
terian churches have received great blessing
through community Bible classes bringing
many out of darkness into light;

113

Be it therefore resolved that the 26th
General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church, meeting in Collingswood, New
Jersey, October 17-22, call upon all of our
churches to endeavor to establish through
each church Community Bible Classes for the
teaching of the whole counsel of God in
accordance with Matthew 28:19, 20.
Archbishop of Canterhurtj, Michael Ramsey

The 26th General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church, meeting in Collingswood,
New Jersey, October 17-22, 1962, warns
Christian people to beware of the false, un-
Biblical leadership of the ecumenical move-
ment.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael
Ramsey, currently visiting the United States
and speaking in churches affiliated with the
National Council of Churches, is one of a
number of ecumenical leaders who blatantly
repudiate precious fundamentals of the
Biblical Christian faith. He is to address the
Episcopal House of Bishops in Columbia,
South Carolina, in late October.

The Archbishop is quoted in the London
Daily Mail for October 2, 1961, as seeing a
place in Heaven for atheists: "Heaven is also
not a place to which we humans go in our
present bodily statef, nor is it a place for Chris-
tians only. Those who have led a good life on
earth but found themselves unable to
believe in God wall not be debarred from
Heaven. I expect to meet some present-day
atheists there." Dr. Ramsey also is quoted
rejecting the need for believing in the virgin
birth of Christ, as approving hypocritical
public recitation of the church creed while
holding mental reservations, and as rejecting
the Biblical record of the creation of Adam
and Eve because it contradicts materialistic
evolutionary theory.

Dr. Ramsey, elected a president of the
World Council of Churches at New Delhi in
December, 1961, further revealed his depar-
ture from historic Protestantism by receiving
at Lambeth Palace the past August Roman
Catholic' Cardinal Bea, president of the
Secretariat for the Union of Christian
Churches, which is promoting the campaign
to win non-Roman churches back to Rome.

Therefore, he it resolved that this Synod
urges Christian people to heed the Scriptural
admonition of 1 John 4:1, "Beloved, believe
no every spirit, but try the spirits whether they

114

are of God: because many false prophets are
gone out into the world." This Synod pleads
with Christian people to stop blindly
following exalted church leaders who are
public enemies of the Gospel of Christ.

Finally, this Synod calls upon Christians
in NCC-WCC churches to recognize that
those denominations are hopelessly dominated
by unbelievers such as Archbishop Ramsey,
and, recognizing this sad fact, to separate
from the ecumenical movement in obedience
to God s Word and for the glory of Christ.

The Vatican Council

The 26th General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church, meeting at Collingswood,
N. J., desires to express its views with regard
to the so-called 21st Ecumenical Council
called by Pope John XXIII and now meeting
in Rome.

While the Synod believes that every
effort should be made to encourage unity
among Christian brethren, it feels called
upon to emphasize the fact that unity should
never be sought at the expense of truth. The
hope has been expressed that this council
"will end the schism of the 16th century."
True Protestant and Bible believers hold that
this so-called "schism" was actually a separa-
tion between those who accept the Bible
teaching and those who deny it. We would
rejoice to see all professing Christians accept
the great Biblical teachings about salvation
that were the backbone of the work of the
Reformers. Yet we see no sign of such a move,
but rather to the contrary, in the announce-
ments connected wath the calling of this
council. The central Biblical teaching of
justification through faith in Christ alone is
still denied and opposed by the publications
of the Roman Church. The great prominence
given to the ceremony of the Mass at the
opening session of the council would be
designated by the Reformers as "crucifying
the Son of God afresh" and constitutes a
denial of the Scriptural teaching that once
for all He paid the penalty for the sins of all
who would believe on His name and sincerely
accept Him as Saviour and Lord.

The council meets imder the auspices of
the Virgin Mary, and thus declares anew the
devotion of the Church of Rome to a teaching
that is denied by the New Testament, which
never puts any human being in a category at

all comparable to the Son of God, who alone
deserves our worship.

The pomp and ceremony with which the
council opened is in sharp contrast to the atti-
tude of the early apostles. Peter forbade Cor-
nelius to bow before him, declaring himself to
be only a human being like Cornelius (Acts
10:26). It is hard to imagine that Peter would
look with approval on a man who would claim
to be his successor and would then permit a
procession of church dignitaries to prostrate
themselves before him and to kiss his ring,
his knee, or his foot.

During the past three centuries the popes
have generally referred to Protestants as
heretics and enemies of the Faith. The new
trend, to call them "separated brethren" and
to express a desire for unity with them, while
at the same time standing strongly on the
anti-Biblical teaching and observances that
made the Reformation necessary, is calculated
to lull Protestants to sleep and thus constitutes
an even greater danger to the Christian faith
than the previous attitude.

In addition, we note with grave misgivings
the reception of representatives of the
Russian Orthodox Church as "obsen'er-
delegates," and the strenuous efforts made to
secure their attendance at the council. Since
the Russian Orthodox Church is completely
under the control of the atheistic and brutal
Communist government and is used as its
instrument, such an action constitutes a
dangerous step in the direction of coexistence
with atheistic Communism.

It might be noted that the word
"ecumenical" derives from a Greek term that
is always used in the Bible to refer to the
inhabited world, and never to the church.
Thus Luke 2:1 states that Caesar Augustus
ordered that all the inhabited world should
be taxed. In fact, all the early ecumenical
councils were called by Roman Emperors,
none by bishops of Rome.
During an Open Forum on Bible Presby-
terian Problems, a letter involving World Presby-
terian Missions, written by the Rev. George
Gilchrist to Dr. Armando Oliveira of Brazil, was
read. The purpose of this letter was an obvious
attempt to bring about a division within the work
of the Independent Board in Brazil. The misstate-
ments of this and of other letters from World Pres-
byterian missionaries were pointed out by Dr.
Clark. The Board's stand on the property question

in Japan was also explained to Synod, and the
unauthorized change in the constitution of the
Mission by the Board's former missionaries.
Further details were given concerning the action
of World Presbyterian Missions in India in split-
ting the Kanpur Bible Presbyterian Church by
supporting the Rev. Frank Fiol in this same field.
The reason for the resolution of the Board to
refuse to return its missionaries who remain with
a denomination which seeks thus to divide, take
over, and to destroy the work of the Independent
Board was carefully set forth.

Dr. Mclntire took up the proposed change in
the constitution by the Evangelical Presb\terian
Church (formerly the Columbus Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church). He traced the diffi-
culties with them to their long-standing desire
for more centralization of authority in the church.

The Korean situation concerned the attempt
of the Christian Reformed, the Orthodox Presby-
terian, and the Evangelical Presbyterian Churches
to keep the separatist Korean groups from joining
the International Council of Christian Churches,
and to make them over into their version of the
Reformed image.

A lengthy memorial resolution was adopted
concerning the Rev. Clyde J. Kennedy, D.D.,
"Valiant-for-Truth." Dr. Kennedy was called
Home to be with Christ on September 22, 1962.

Twenty-seventh General Synod

Christian Admiral, Cape May, New Jersey,

October 16-22, 1963

The Bible Presbyterian Church held its
Twenty-seventh General Synod in the Christian
Admiral, Cape May, N. J., October 16-22, 1963.
It was indeed a glorious time of precious Christian
fellowship. This was the first time that the Synod
had met in one large hotel where all would be
together for a week.

The Bible Presbyterian Church is the spiritual
succession of what is today the United Presby-
terian Church. It stands where the early Presby-
terians stood when they started the movement in
the new world. It is a free church. It is a separate
church. It is a Bible-preaching church. It is a
church which is committed to the Reformed faith.

In the blessed providence of God this church
has had given to it a mighty cause and it is carry-
ing the burden of the conflict of the 20th century.
The Gospel is corrupted, many churches are
turning aside to other masters and to other causes.

115

Twenty-seventh General Synod, 1963

There must be a pure church maintaining the
purity of the Gospel. The church must obey her
Head and King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As of this Synod there are 118 ordained
ministers in the Bible Presbyterian denomination
and 74 individual churches. In 1958, there were
77 ministers and 47 local churches. The church
is growing. It is commanding the attention and
the respect of others who are being stirred by the
Spirit of God. In the past year, ministers have
come into the Bible Presbyterian Church from the
United Presbyterian Church, the Canadian Pres-
byterian Church, the Southern Presbyterian
Church, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the
Beformed Church in America, and several inde-
pendent churches.

The Synod heard reports from the 20 inde-
pendent agencies endorsed by the Synod.

The Synod elected the Rev. George W. Fincke,
Jr., D.D., of Glendale, Calif., moderator, and the
Rev. James Blizzard of the Knoxville, Tenn., Bible
Presbyterian Church to assist the Rev. A. Franklin
Faucette, stated clerk of the Synod since 1956.
Also, the Rev. Philip duB. Arcularius was elected
to assist the statistician, the Rev. J. U. Selwyn
Toms, who had faithfully served since his appoint-
ment as the first statistician in 1941.

A total of 14 resolutions were passed, two being
memorial resolutions for the Rev. Arthur G. Slaght,
D.D., of the South Baltimore Bible Presbyterian
Church, and the Rev. Charles Sullivan Calkins of
the New Jersey Presbytery.

The Synod also called on President Kennedy
not to deliver his announced major address from
the platform of the National Council of Churches
in Philadelphia and to treat all religious bodies
equally; called a protest rally against the joint
program of the President of the U.S.A. and the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A. for "peaceful co-operation" with the Com-
munists; endorsed the Becker Amendment to
return the Bible to our schools; sent a letter of the

116

assurance of prayers to the persecuted Greek
Evangelical Church; protested the U.S. Govern-
ment's sending of aid to the Greek Government
until the Protestants in Greece were free from
the present persecution; petitioned the Greek
Ambassador in Washington, D.C., to use his
influence to induce the authorities of the Govern-
ment of Greece to cease their persecution of the
Greek Evangelical Church; declared that open
housing ordinances included questions of religious
discrimination and that they are in violation of the
Eighth Commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." The
Synod recommended that open housing ordi-
nances be repealed or rejected.

Three hundred forty-five ladies, representing
33 Bible Presbyterian churches and 20 non-Bible
Presbyterian churches gathered for the annual
Women's Synodical Society meeting. A history of
the Bible Presbyterian Church on colored slides
was presented with a commentary by Dr. Carl
Mclntire.

The following resolution was passed by the
27th General Synod:

The Faith and Order Movement of the World

Council of Churches

Having heard a report by three of our
ministers who as members of the press
attended the Fourth World Conference on
Faith and Order, of the World Council of
Churches, meeting in Montreal, Canada, in
July, 1963, this Twenty-seventh General
Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church
expresses its concern and disapproval of the
Faith and Order movement and its objectives,
because:

1. The Faith and Order Commission is
an activity of the World Council of Churches
which is securely in the control of militant
theological liberals, who, in addition to
rejecting the historic Christian faith, advocate
peaceful coexistence and even co-operation

with atheistic Communist governments such
as the Soviet Union.

2. The Faith and Order Commission is
seeking to estabhsh a basis for a "one-world
church" which necessarily requires theological
concessions and sacrifices of doctrines or
beliefs which are considered controversial.
The "one-world church" theological basis
must therefore eliminate the true, saving
Gospel of Jesus Christ and His atonement,
and subordinate the authority of the Word of
God to the traditions of men.

3. The Faith and Order Commission
includes a significant representation of the
Eastern Orthodox Church with its emphasis
upon the Mass, Mariolatry, veneration of the
saints, and so forth, and thus is an affront to,
and a repudiation of, the glorious, God-given
victories of the Protestant Reformation. The
theological concessions of Faith and Order to
Eastern Orthodoxy are seen as support of the
general attitude of the Faith and Order move-
ment toward ultimate union with Romanism.

It is therefore recommended by this
Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church that
its ministers and constituency vigorously
oppose the Faith and Order movement and
call for a return to "sola scripttira," the
authority of the Bible alone, and recognize
that the program of the Faith and Order
Commission of the World Council of
Churches is the verv foundation on which the
kingdom of Antichrist may be built.

Twenty-eighth General Synod

Christian Admiral, Cape May, New Jersey,

October 14-20, 1964

The Rev. Lynn Gray Gordon, general
secretary of the Independent Board for Presby-
terian Home Missions, was elected moderator of
the Twenty-eighth General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church, meeting in Cape May, N. J.,
October 14-20, 1964. Mr. Gordon has led in the
establishment of many of the new Bible Presby-
terian churches receiving aid through the Inde-
pendent Board. Eleven new churches were added
to the Synod during the past year, and a goal of
20 new churches was established for 1965.

The messages of the Synod were developed
around the theme, "Unashamed of the Gospel."

Resolutions adopted commended and approved
the independent agencies serving the denomina-

tion and called attention to the drift toward
godlessness abroad in America. The Svnod
approved the establishment of a new independent
agency for the publication of Sunday school
literature suitable for Bible Presbyterians.

A high light of the Synod was the report of
International Christian Relief, agency for both
the International and American Councils of Chris-
tian Churches, by the Rev. James Shaw, executive
secretary.

The Synod passed a total of 16 resolutions.
Resolutions were passed in memory of Dr. M.
Stanley Black, one of the original founders of the
Bible Presbvterian Church in 1937; the Rev.
Charles Burkholder of Colorado; and Elder Gar-
field Watson, of the Audubon Bible Presbyterian
Church, all of whom went to be with the Lord
during the past Synodical year. Synod also
passed a resolution commending the hospitality of
the Christian Admiral and another endorsing
support for International Christian Youth's
Project America II.

The Women's Synodical Society met with 232
ladies registered from 32 Bible Presbyterian
churches and 12 visiting churches.

The 28th General Svnod passed the following
statements and resolutions:
The False Theorij of Evolution in Our
Public Schools

The 28th General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church, believing the Holy Scrip-
tures to be the inerrant Word of God and the
only revelation of God's plan of redemption
through Jesus Christ, is deeply concerned
with teaching in the public schools of the
theory of evolution which undermines the
confidence of young students in the Scrip-
tures.

This Synod is prepared to refute the
various theories of evolution, on the grounds
both of the Scriptures and of the scientific
evidence.

Therefore, this Synod protests the
teaching in public school textbooks and class-
rooms of evolution as a fact rather than as an
unproved theory. We further protest the
presentation of selected data and fabricated
evidence to school children while the massive
scientific evidence which refutes the theory
of evolution is largely withheld.

This Synod further calls upon the public
press to deal objectively and fairly with both
sides of this controversial subject. Finally,
this Synod encourages Christian parents and

117

Twenty-eighth General Synod, 1964, Robert Lee Gardner Memorial Hall

pastors vigorously to make their convictions
heard in their local school districts and
boards of education.

Concerning the Apostasy of

Bishop James A. Pike

The 28th General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church declares that Episcopal
Bishop James A. Pike, rector of Grace
Cathedral in San Francisco, in his recent call
to end the concept of the Trinity is revealing
afresh how far he has departed from the
historic Christian faith. His declaration in St.
Louis, as reported in a UPI release on Octo-
ber 12, "Let us attribute to God all that has
heretofore been attributed to three persons,"
does violence to all of the Scriptures and the
statement of Jesus Christ in giving us the
trinitarian formula, "In the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." The
Trinity is knovvTi only because of the revela-
tion presented in holy Scripture. That there
is a God is clear from creation, "Even his
eternal power and Godhead," but that the
Godhead is a Trinity is clear only from the
holy Scriptures. Moreover, to eliminate the
Second Person, as Pike advocates, eliminates
the deity of Christ as presented in the Scrip-
tures. Bishop Pike's rejection of the Trinity
involves a rejection of the infallibility and
authority of the holy Scriptures.

Though the Episcopal Church has itself
so departed from the teaching of its Thirtij-
Nine Articles that Pike cannot be disciplined
for his rank heresy, true Bible-believing
Christians in all churches will recognize that
he is an outstanding symbol of the great
apostasy from the faith, which substitutes
social programs for the regeneration of rrian
by the Holy Ghost.

118

20th Century Reformation Hour and the
Christian Beacon

The 28th General Synod of the Bible
Presbyterian Church, gathered at the Chris-
tian Admiral in Cape May, N. J., expresses
thanks to Almighty God and to His servant.
Dr. Carl Mclntire, for the testimony of the
20th Century Reformation Hour broadcast,
which is now heard over 615 radio stations in
the United States, Canada, and via short
wave arovmd the world.

We acknowledge that souls are being saved
as a direct result of this ministry, and that the
saints are given information by which they
are enabled and challenged to recognize the
deceitful works of the Devil and to separate
themselves from sin and apostasy in direct
obedience to the Word of God.

We also wholeheartedly endorse the
Christian Beacon, a weekly religious news-
paper edited by Dr. Carl Mclntire, and
recommend that it be subscribed to and read
in every Christian home.

BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD CONFRONTS UNITED
PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY
COLUMBUS, OHIO, MAY 19-25, 1965

A pro re nata meeting of the Bible Presbyte-
rian Synod was held at the Seneca Hotel, Colum-
bus, Ohio, May 19-25, 1965, to protest the United
Presbyterian Church's discarding of the historic
Westminster Confession of Faith in favor of a
proposed Confession of 1967. The call for the
meeting was issued by the moderator of the 28th
General Synod, Dr. Lynn Gray Gordon, and
signed by more than half of the ministers and an

equal number of elders. According to the call,
"The purpose of this meeting shall be to consider
all matters relative to the contemplated action
of the United Presbyterian Church in amending
the Westminster Confession of Faith and Cate-
chisms and changing the ordination vows; and to
pass whatever resolutions and to take whatever
action may be deemed necessary in the preserva-
tion of our historic Presbyterian faith, and in
rendering assistance to individuals, churches,
presbyteries, and synods which are still a part of
the United Presbyterian Church. This meeting
of the General Synod shall not handle any business
normally brought to the General Synod which
meets annually, the next one of which has been
called to meet at Cape May at the Christian
Admiral, October 19-25, 1965."

The keynote address, "Remove Not the Ancient
Landmark," was delivered by the moderator,
Dr. Gordon. The program consisted of 15 scholarly

Biblical Verbs — Rather unusual sentiments for rather un-
usual picl<eting characterized the signs carried by Bible
Presbyterian demonstrators before the United Presbyterian
assembly hall. Typical is the one, a quotation from the Book
of Exodus, carried by Dr. Carl Mclntire of Colllngswood, N. J.
(Photo by Columbus Dispatch.)

and timely addresses centered around the theme.
The major addresses gave a historical survey of
the apostasy in the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A. and the causes which led to the formation
of the Bible Presbyterian Church. They were:
"The Modem Take-over of Princeton Theological
Seminary" by Dr. Allan A. MacRae; "The Case
for Loyalty" by the Rev. William R. LeRoy,
missionary to Brazil; "The History of the Apostasy
in the Presbyterian Church" by the Rev. A.
Franklin Faucette; "The New Creed in the Light
of Modem Theological Trends" by the Rev. Gary
G. Cohen; "The Mission of the Church" by Dr. J.
Philip Clark; "The Trials of The Independent
Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions" by Dr.
Carl Mclntire; "History of the Westminster Con-
fession of Faith" by Dr. Arthur E. Steele; "Results
of an Apostate Message on the Foreign Field" by
the Rev. Dwight R. Malsbary; "The Bible Presby-
terian Church, the True Spiritual Succession of
the United Presbyterian Church" by Dr. Lynn
Gray Gordon; "Why I Left the United Presbyte-
rian Church" by the Rev. Evan Renne; "The
Auburn Affirmation in the Church" by the Rev.
Charles Dana Chrisman; "God's Minorities" by
Dr. J. Gordon Holdcroft; "The Presbyterian Man-
date of 1934" by the Rev. Philip duB. Arcularius;
"The United Presbyterian Church in the Ecumen-
ical Movement" by Dr. George W. Fincke, Jr.

The Synod passed 12 resolutions, dealing with
such subjects as: The United Presbyterian Church
and the Westminster Confession of Faith, The
United Nations, Ministers and Civil Disobedience,
The Federal Communications Commission, The
Radical Right, On the New Morality, the F.B.I,
and Communist Agents, the Associated Press and
George Cornell, the United Presbyterian and
Roman Catholic Churches, and the Mission of the
Church.

The Synod prepared an official communication
in the form of a letter addressed to the Commis-
sioners of the 177th General Assembly of the
United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.,
Columbus, Ohio, May 20-26, 1965. This commu-
nication was dehvered to Mr. William Phelps
Thompson, moderator of the Assembly, and Dr.
Eugene Carson Blake, stated clerk, at the end of
a peaceful protest march on Saturday, May 22,
1965.

Dr. Carl Mclntire led the march which was
orderly in every respect. Upon arriving at the
United Presbyterian Assembly, the letter was
delivered to the Assembly by the Rev. James L.
Bhzzard and the Rev. Arthur A. Froehlich. The

119

moderator, although he stated from the platform
that it was too late to be considered by the body
because of Standing Rule No. 30, which forbids
introducing communications, etc., after the second
day of the General Assembly, stated that the letter
would be printed in the daily paper of the
Assembly.

Dr. Irwin W. Steele, editor of the Spanish
edition of the Christian Beacon, acted as vice-
moderator.

Resolutions and statements included:

Ministers and Civil Disobedience

The pro re nata meeting of the Synod of
the Bible Presbyterian Church, meeting in
Columbus, Ohio, May 19-25, 1965, strongly
condemns the present-day practice of so-
called "Civil Disobedience," and takes sharp
issue with those church bodies and ministers
who have participated in and who advocate
this revolutionary activitv of the "Civil
Rights" movement. The Bible enjoins us to
strive lawfully at all times (2 Tim. 2:5).
This command of Almighty God is further
emphasized by the Westminster Confession
of Faith, the creedal standard which the
United Presbvterian Church in the U.S.A.
proposes to reject. Chapter 23, "Of the Civil
Magistrate," Section IV, states: "It is the
dutv of people to prav for magistrates, to
honor their persons, to pay them tribute and
other dues, to obey their lawful commands,
and to be stibiect to their authority for
conscience' sake." In our Republic where laws
are made by the representatives of the people,
and where we enjoy the Constitutional pro-
tection of freedom of speech and freedom of
assembly, "Civil Disobedience" has become
merely a tactic and strategv for fomenting
strife and violence. The Constitution provides
for desired change by means of a lawful,
orderlv procedure of amendment— not by
unlawful demonstrations.

Where human conscience alone reigns
instead of Bible-based Constitutional law, the
result is chaos, lawlessness, disorder, and the
absence of the blessing of God. Lawbreaking
then becomes good, and law enforcement
evil. The Bible warns us in Isaiah 5:20, "Woe
to them that call evil good, and good evil."
God has established civil order, and the Bible
calls upon His people, and especially His
ministers, to maintain it. Any justification by
a Christian of civil disobedience on the

120

ground of an individual's conscience alone is a
travesty of the Scriptural affirmation that we
must obey God rather than men, so long as
our State has not commanded disobedience
of that which is clearly taught in the Bible.
The Scriptures condemn the doing of evil
that good may come (Rom. 3:8). This perver-
sion of "conscience" in current civil strife has
made man a law unto himself and given an
open door to the Communists for the revolu-
tion they are fomenting.

Bible Presbyterian pickets protesting the proposed actions of
the United Presbyterian General Assembly with which they
disagree, marching in front of meeting place of U. P. As-
sembly. Dr. Charles E. Richter of Colllngswood, N. J., is in
the foreground. (Columbus Dispatch photo.)

Any cause which must be promoted by
present-day "Civil Disobedience" demonstra-
tions is unworthy of the support of Christians.
This Svnod calls upon the ministers of our
land to "preach the Gospel" by which our
people are reconciled to the Lord and to each
other (2 Cor. 5:17-21).

The Radical Right

Whereas, there have been increasing
attacks from liberal theologians and groups
associated with the National Council of
Churches and the World Council of Churches
against conservative church and political
groups in the United States of America, clas-
sifying them all as being the so-called "radi-
cal right";

Whereas, these attacks represent a
"smear tactic" and a concerted effort to
discredit true conservatism in the U.S.A.,
which seeks to preserve our Constitutional
American way of Hfe and a traditional, con-
servative, evangelical Christianity which has
recognized that God is the Author of all of
our liberties and the Source of our material
and spiritual blessings as a nation;

Whereas, conservative Christianity today
has not deviated in principle nor essence since
the time of Christ, and is therefore not radical;

Whereas, liberal Christianity today is a
radical departure from that which the true
church has always believed;

Whereas, the great popularity of liberal
Christianitv today and its large number of
adherents do not change its radical nature;

Whereas, publications of the United
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. denounce
the so-called "radical right" as not presenting
true conservatism; and

Whereas, the Ohio Christian News, April,
1965, contains an article by J. R. Nelson,
entitled, "The Radical Right," which
denounces one of our own ministers, the Rev.
Carl Mclntire, classifies him as being an
active leader in the so-called "radical right"
movement in the U.S.A., and deals with him
in a dishonest way in an effort to discredit his
true position;

Therefore, the pro re nata meeting of the
Bible Presbyterian Synod, meeting in
Columbus, Ohio, May 19-25, 1965, denies that
historic. Biblical Christianitv and all those
who faithfully adhere to it and defend it, such
as Dr. Mclntire, are in any sense radical;

It affirms that the popular present-day,
liberal theologians and groups associated with
the National and World Councils of Churches
are the true radicals;

It strongly repudiates everv effort being
made by the liberal religious and secular
press in America to discredit conservative
Christianity in these days; and

It denies that the only true hope and way
of life for sinful, lost man in this life and the
one to come as revealed in the Bible is radical,
nor on the "right" — it is eternal truth.
The Mission of the Church

The mission of the church has been care-
fully defined by holy Scripture. The church
is to proclaim to every man the good news of
salvation, through the vicarious atonement of

the only begotten Son of God for the sins of
all those who believe; it is to bring them into
the visible church, and teach them the whole
counsel of God as revealed in the Bible.

The United Presbvterian Church in the
U.S.A. is proposing to degrade that mission
through its proposed Confession of 1967. This
Confession profanes the crucifixion by
narrowly making it a revelation of "God's
judgment on man's inhumanity to man." The
resurrection and hope of His coming are
broadly promised to be "God's forgiveness
for all wrong and the renewal of society."

The urgency of mission is dispelled by the
proposed creed as it declares the whole
human race to be already reconciled to God.
It thereby robs the church of its message, "Be
ve reconciled to God. " The Christian religion
is made to be but a human formulation of
ideas and is condemned with all others, thus
opening the way for the total secularization
of world society.

The proposed Confession indicates that
many theologians in the United Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A. no longer see sin as the
barrier between God and man which can be
removed only by the reconciling word of the
Gospel. Instead, reconciliation applies only
to the horizontal area of interhuman relation-
ships and serves to remove racial, national,
and economic barriers to create "one universal
family, " without reference to the new birth.

The General Synod of the Bible Presby-
terian Church, meeting in Columbus, Ohio,
May 19-25, 1965, calls upon all Presbyterians
of the United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.,
who hold the Biblical concept of missions, to
sever their relationship to that organization
which has cut loose from the written Word of
God, and to denounce those Christ-denying
and humanistic ideas contained in the pro-
posed Confession of 1967, and to go with us
into all the world to preach the Gospel to
every creature.

Twenty-ninth General Synod

Christian Admiral, Cap May, New Jersey,

October 19-25, 1965

Dr. Carl Mclntire, editor of the Christian
Beacon, was elected moderator of the Twenty-
ninth General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church which met at the Christian Admiral, Cape

121

Twenty-ninth General Synod, 1965

May, N. J. Dr. Mclntire, director of the 20th
Century Reformation Hour and president of the
International Council of Christian Churches, is
pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church of
Collingswood, N. J., largest congregation of the
denomination, which carries on the historic
position of the faith of Presbyterians in the wake
of widespread apostasy in the major Presbyterian
bodies in the United States.

The theme of the 1965 Synod was, "The Whole
Counsel of God for a Day of Apostasy."

Reports of the approved agencies indicated
that the year since the 28th Synod met was one
of the most fruitful in the church's history, with
especially the pro re nata Synod meeting in
Columbus in May to oppose the "Confession of
1967" there presented for the first time before the
General Assembly of the United Prsbyterian
Church in the U.S.A., having inspired the zeal
and ministry of the whole church.

The greatness and nearness of the apostasy,
the potential for a witness on the part of a church
that has been preserved separate from the
ecumenical movement in this age, and the issues
within the church itself which have worked
together for good in the past months, were all
appreciated as never before in the meeting of the
29th Synod.

The Synod adopted timely resolutions. Memo-
rial resolutions honored the memory of the Rev.
William W. Thompson and the Rev. Cornelius M.
Eelman, both of the New Jersey Presbytery, who
had gone to be with the Lord since the last Synod.
Two of the resolutions and statements adopted
were:
Civil Disobedience

The 29th General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church, meeting at the Christian
Admiral, Cape May, N. J., views with alarm
the increased advocacy of "civil disobedience"
by clergymen and other molders of public
opinion.

We believe that "civil disobedience" is a

122

violation of our Christian duty to be "subject
unto the higher powers" (Rom. 13:1) and a
failure to recognize the plain teaching of the
Word of God that "there is no power but of
God: the powers that be are ordained of
God."

Much of the blame for the present riots in
California must be laid at the feet of clergy
who teach civil disobedience. Our system of
constitutional government provides lawful
methods for changing laws. The "civil disobe-
dience" campaign involves a spirit of lawless-
ness and the breaking of all good laws in
order to change allegedly bad laws. This
violates the Scriptural principle that evil must
not be committed in order that good may
come.

We call to the attention of our churches
and all Americans that "whosoever . . . resist-
eth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God:
and they that resist shall receive to themselves
damnation." This is particularly relevant in
a nation such as ours, where democratic
means for peaceful change are always
available.

Therefore, in the light of the plain
teaching of God's Holy Word, especially such
passages as Romans 13 and 1 Timothy 2, we
call upon all Christian Americans to:

1. Pray for all in authority.

2. Offer thanksgiving for orderly
government.

3. Be subject to the higher powers.

4. Render to all their due.

5. Obey God's moral law.
The United Nations

The 29th General Synod of the Bible Pres-
byterian Church, meeting at the Christian
Admiral, Cape May, N. J., reaffirms its
opposition to the position and practice of the
United Nations.

The stated design for the United Nations
is the establishment of an international body

holding absolute power. This is deliberately
carried forth apart from the righteousness of
God and His moral law (to illustrate: no
reference to God in its charter). We call
attention to the fact that any program for
peace is contrary to the will of God and is
doomed to judgment by Him.

Even those friendly to the United Nations
admit this figure of hope is dying or about to
die unless something is done to save it.
Paralysis of the Security Council has come
through Soviet use of its veto. Article 19 of
the United Nations' charter is now dead. It
is now possible for nations which pay only
five per cent of the budget to control a two-
thirds majority of the General Assembly.

Further, the United Nations has been
virtually ineffective in averting Communist
aggression in its 20-year history. By Soviet
design, this body has been an effective tool
of the world-wide subversive conspiracy.

Moreover, the United Nations, by treaty
law and constituted authority, is rapidly
bringing about a world climate of police-state
socialism. Reform of this organization from
within is impossible because of the veto
power.

Therefore, be it resolved that this Synod
reject the masterfully designed error that the
United Nations is the world's last, best hope
for peace;

Be it further resolved that this Svnod
imanimously urge all Christians in no way to
assist the United Nations or any of its depart-
ments or organizations;

Be it finally resolved that this Synod urge
all Christians to work unceasingly for freedom
and to watch faithfully for that day of the
coming of the Kings of kings.

J. U. Selwyn Toms, Synod's Statistician

Bom of English parents in South Australia,
October 26, 1878, J. U. Selwyn Toms was
christened in the Episcopal Church in Christ-
church, New Zealand. Dedicated to the Lord, he
was named Selwyn after Bishop Selwyn, a mis-
sionary bishop to the New Zealanders, the Maoris.

With father, mother, and two brothers, he was
brought in a sailing vessel around Cape Horn to
New York City, en route to Canada, where his
father, a teacher, became a missionary to the Cree
Indians and later went to the State of Washington,
where he was ordained a Presbyterian minister.

Mr. Toms graduated from a high school in
Iowa and then came to New Jersey, where, vdth
his brother, Robert, he graduated from the West
Jersey Academy in Bridgeton in 1900. He was
graduated from Wheaton College in 1905, vdth
the A.B. degree; then he attended Princeton
Theological Seminary, where he graduated in
1908. At that time, Francis Langley Patton was
its president and John Davis, author of a
dictionary of the Bible, a professor.

He was Ucensed by the Presbytery of West
Jersey and ordained and installed, July 2, 1908,
as pastor of the church at Swedesboro, as the way
did not seem to be open to go to Korea, to which
he had been appointed a missionary by the Board

Rev. J. U. Selwyn Toms,
Statistician, 1951-1965

of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in
the U.S.A. But that same year the way opened and
on October 10 he married Miss Ella Burt, and
they sailed for Korea on October 27. He was at
that time a missionary supported by the Presby-
terian Church in Oxford, Pa.

Assigned at first to the Taiku Station by the
Korea Mission, because of the need of an
evangelistic missionary in Seoul and an educational
man in Taiku, he was transferred to Seoul in
October, 1910. After two years he was assigned
sole charge of the South District, a territory about
the size of Rhode Island, the nearest church of
which was 25 miles away. He traveled over this
on foot and by bicyle for ten years, except when
he supplied in Fusan, Andong, and districts in
Seoul. He was asked to take the statistical work in
Seoul Station and later for the whole Korea
Mission. Eventually, there was added the local
Korean Presbytery statistical job and the statistics
of the Korean General Assembly, and, finally,
those of the Federal Council, which was composed
of the four Presbyterian Missions and the two
Methodist Missions in Korea.

123

Eight consecutive years of service on the
field proved too long for health reasons and,
though the Mission voted for their return to Korea
after furlough, for various reasons Mr. Toms
resigned as a missionary to Korea.

Upon his return to the U.S.A. he served as
pastor in a church in Pennsylvania for four years,
and then became pastor of the Presbyterian
Church in Woodstov^^n, N. J. In 1934, the Pres-
bytery of West Jersey elected him and Dr. William
A. Chamberlin of Collingswood as pre-Assembly
delegates to the General Assembly. Of this Mr.
Toms said: "Evidentlv the Lord was preparing me
for the fight against the apostasy in the Presby-
terian Church, as He brought me home the year of
the Auburn Affirmation, and gave me two charges
in the church. At the Assembly, the delegates from
the Synod of New Jersey were seated in front and
there was no one between me and the moderator."

He continued to be a member of the Presby-
terian Church in the U.S.A. until July, 1936, when
he requested the Presbytery to erase his name
from the roll. When the "Articles of Association of
the Bible Presbyterian Synod" were written Mr.
Toms was appointed a member of the committee
charged with carrying out the recommendations
of the Articles. This committee also drew up a
Form of Government and a Book of Discipline for
the Synod.

In 1940 Mr. Toms was appointed statistician
of the Synod, which office he held for 25 years,
and the 1965 Synod made him statistician
emeritus.

A. Franklin Faucette, B.A., Th.M., Stated Clerk
of the Synod

Mr. Faucette was graduated from the Bible
Institute of Los Angeles, 1922 (post graduate);
Occidental College, B.A., 1926; Princeton The-
ological Seminary, Th.B, Th.M., 1929. He was
ordained by Northumberland Presbytery of the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in 1929, and
served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church
of Watsontown, Pa., from 1929 to 1936. He
founded a Presbyterian Church of America in
Cleveland, Ohio, 1937. This church joined the
Bible Presbyterian denomination and changed its
name to the Bible Presbyterian Church of Cleve-
land, Ohio, July 7, 1937. This church was one
of the 13 that founded the Bible Presbyterian
denomination in June of that year. He served the

124

Bible Presbyterian Church in the Lakewood
section of Cleveland, then in North Olmsted
( where the church built a house of worship ) from
1937 to 1961.

He accepted a call to become registrar of Faith
Seminary in 1961.

He was cofounder of the Presbytery of the
Great Lakes of the Bible Presbyterian Church,

Rev. A. Franklin Faucette,
Stated Clerk since 1956

serving as moderator and stated clerk, 1945, 1948,
and for numerous other terms.

Mr. Faucette was cofounder of the American
Council of Christian Churches, Cleveland chapter,
and its first president, 1946-1948, 1952, 1953. He
was secretary of the Ohio ACCC, 1955 to 1958;
vice-president, 1959; president, 1960, 1961.

He served as regional secretary of The
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Mis-
sions, 1954-1959; recording secretary, 1961 to date.
He has been a member of the Board since 1937
and stated clerk of the Bible Presbyterian Synod
since 1956.

WOMEN'S SYNODICAL SOCIETY

The Women's Synodical Society of the Bible
Presbvterian Church was formally organized in
1950 and has a threefold purpose: promoting
fellowship among the women of the Bible Pres-
byterian churches; missionarv endeavor; and the
interests relating to the testimony of the Bible
Presbyterian Church. Since its organization the
Society has met each year at the same time and in
the same place as the Bible Presbyterian Synod.

Members of the Society are received from
Bible Presbyterian churches on a voluntary basis.
Although every woman of each Bible Presbyterian
Church may be a member, membership is not
obligatory.

Women's Synodical Society, 1965, in Robert Lee Gardner Memorial Hall

The Women's Synodical Society is organized
for the purpose of helping the testimony of the
Bible Presbyterian Church in any way that the
women may be of help, always realizing that they
are under the direction and authority of the men
of the church, according to the Scriptures. The first
Synodical was organized with the approval of the
Synod, and under the direction of a minister
appointed by the Synod, with 39 women present,
representing eight presbyteries. According to the
constitution of the Society, all actions of the
Women's Synodical Society are subject to the
review and approval of the General Synod of the
Bible Presbyterian Church. The Synodical
president presents a formal report of all activities
for the vear to each Synod. The treasurer's report
is included.

The regular annual meeting follows an
appropriate theme around which inspirational
and devotional messages and reports are centered.
The same motif is also carried out at the special
Synodical luncheon under the direction of a pro-
gram committee. Officers are elected and installed
at the session of the regular meeting.

The executive committee transacts all the
business of the organization during the year. It is
composed of the officers of the society — president,
vice-president, recording secretary, corresponding
secretary, and treasurer, and the chairmen of the
four main committees — Home Missions, Foreign
Missions, Outlook, and Fellowship. The executive
committee meets several times each year as the
need requires to carry on the work of the Society
and make the plans for the year.

The women of the Bible Presbyterian Church
have always had an appropriate and a unique place
in the ministry of the church. It was a mission
study group in the Woman's Missionary Society of

the CoUingswood Presbyterian Church that
brought the attention of the Session of the church
to the fact that the mission study material recom-
mended by the church's foreign mission board was
apostate in its teaching. With the approval of the
Session, the women protested to the Board of
Foreign Missions the use of the material. The
long-range result of this protest was the final
withdrawal of the CoUingswood Church from the
denomination. This, in turn, led to the formation
of the Bible Presbyterian Church.

The Society is not a fund-raising organization,
but exists primarily to promote the spiritual
interests of the denomination as a whole and of
the independent agencies approved by the Svnod.
To accomplish the work of promoting the agencies
the Society maintains an informative four-page
news sheet, Fellowship News, which is distributed
five times yearly to Bible Presbyterian churches.
The Synodical maintains an up-to-date mailing list
of interested women and churches. Letters from
the president are sent out periodically to stimulate
interest in the needs of the agencies. Projects of
the Synodical have included: audio-visuals on
missions and the history of the Bible Presbyterian
Church; wallet-size calendars to remind the
women of the need for prayer; date-books con-
taining a list of approved church agencies. Packets
of material for suggested programs and program
materials are distributed to all who attend the
yearly meeting. These packets contain informa-
tion, needs and goals of all the agencies of the
church, and are helpful in the local churches in
obtaining the information which stimulates
inspiration and gifts.

Every woman of the Bible Presbyterian Church
may here find a place for service which leads to
a fuller, richer life of usefulness for God in the
Church which He purchased with His own blood.

125

TIME LINE

Beginnings of Presbyterianism in America

1643-49 THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY PRODUCED THE CONFESSION OF
FAITH AND TWO CATECHISMS

1640's Presbyterianism reaches America

1706 First Presbytery in America established

1716 First Synod constituted

1729 The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms become the

Standards of American Presbyterianism

1789 First General Assembly convened in Philadelphia

1812 Princeton Theological Seminary founded

1819 Auburn Theological Seminary founded

1836 Union Theological Seminary founded

1837 Board of Foreign Missions organized

1859 Darwin's Origin of the Species published, Evolution begins to break

down fixed standards

1878 Higher Criticism develops in Germany

1876-80 Higher Criticism infiltrates Scottish Church

1892 Professor A. C. Briggs tried and convicted for heresy, and modernism

takes root in America. Union Seminary withdraws from the Church

1903 Amendments to the Presbyterian Constitution adopted

Beginning of the Struggle With Modernism

1904-22 Licensing ministerial candidates from modernistic seminaries becomes
an issue

1906 Dr. Machen begins his ministry at Princeton Seminary

1910 General Assembly delivers a famous, five-point doctrinal declaration

1910 The Assembly repeats the same declaration

1920 General Assembly presents a modernistic Plan of Organic Union to the
presbyteries for their approval

1921 Plan of Union defeated

Origin of Paul's Religion published
Modernism in China becomes apparent
Bible Union in China organized

1922 Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick challenges the church in a famous sermon

1923 General Assembly repeats its five-point doctrinal declaration
Christianity and Liberalism published

Church Boards reorganized and consolidated for central control

1924 Auburn Affirmation sets the pattern for the inclusive church

126

The Struggle Within the Church — Attempts at Reform

1925 Controversy begins at Princeton Seminary

General Assembly refuses to deliver a doctrinal declaration
Wtiat is Faith? published
Scopes trial

1926 Princeton Investigating Committee appointed by the Assembly

1 927 The Presbyterian

The inclusive "Church of Christ in China" organized

1927-29 Debates over Princeton continue

"The Attack on Princeton Seminary — a Plea for Fair Play"

1928 Princeton Seminary Reorganized
Westminster Seminary founded

Chinese League of Christian Churches formed

1930 Layman's Foreign Mission Inquiry visits mission fields

1931 The Virgin Birth of Christ published

1932 Re-Thinking Missions published

1933 Machen-Speer Debate in Trenton

Overture concerning Modernism in the Foreign Board introduced

into the General Assembly

Assembly endorses Board of Foreign Missions

1934 Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions chartered
Mandate of 1934

Trials begin

1935 Modernism in the Foreign Board continues to be an issue
Mandate reaffirmed

Trials continue

1936 THE GREAT BETRAYAL, IBPFM members suspended

1937 Presbyterian Church of America formed
Faith Theological Seminary established
Death of Dr. Machen

1938 THE EVER-DEEPENING APOSTASY

First Synod of Bible Presbyterian Church held

1956 Merger of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., with the United Presbyterian

Church

1965 New Creed to supplant the Westminster Confession of Faith presented
to General Assembly

1966 General Assembly adopts the New Creed and sends it to the presby-
teries for ratification

127

INDEPENDENT AGENCIES
APPROVED BY THE BIBLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Missionary Agencies

These are the thrust of the church in her ministry of
evangelization.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Mis-
sions, 246 W. Walnut Lane, Philadelphia, Pa., 19144

The Independent Board for Presbyterian Home Missions,
Box 190, Collingswood, N. J. 08108

Friends of Israel Testimony to Christ, 302 Dewey Ave.,
Lakewood, N. J. 08701

Navajo Bible School and Mission, Window Rock, Arizona
86515

Cfiristian Education

Faith Theological Seminary, 920 Spring Ave., Elkins

Park, Philadelphia, Pa. 19117
Highland College, 450 Avenue 64, Pasadena, Calif. 91105
Shelton College, Cape May, N. J. 08204
Reformation Bible Institute, Collingswood, N. J. 08108

Youth

20th Century Overcomers,
wood, N. J. 08108

801 Haddon Ave., Coliings-

Social and Benevolent

Bible Presbyterian Home, Inc., 531 Delaware Ave.,

Delanco, N. J. 08075
Bible Presbyterian Guest Home, Inc., 441 S. Tennessee

Ave., Lakeland, Fla. 33801

Publications

Christian Beacon, 756 Haddon Ave., Collingswood, N. J.
08108

20th Century Reformation Hour, 756 Haddon Ave.,
Collingswood, N. J. 08108

Christian Beacon Press, Inc., Reformation Books Depart-
ment, 20th Century Reformation Center (Book Store),
801 Haddon Ave., Collingswood, N. J. 08108

Reformation Gospel Publications, 809 S. E. Front St.,
Milford, Del. 19963

Cliristian Co-operation

American Council of Christian Churches, 15 Park Row,

New York, N. Y. 10038
Radio and Film Commission
Laymen's Commission
Faith and Freedom Rallies of the 20th Century Reforma-
tion Movement, 756 Haddon Ave., Collingswood, N. J.

08108
International Council of Christian Churches, 756 Haddon

Ave., Collingswood, N. J. 08108
International Christian Youth, 756 Haddon Ave.,

Collingswood, N. J. 08108
International Christian Relief, Haddon and Frazer Aves.,

Collingswood, N. J. 08108
International Association of Reformed Presbyterian

Churches, 1718 Holman St., St. Joseph, Mo. 64501

Bible Conference Center

Christian Admiral, Cape May, N. J. 08204

Independent Agencies

The Bible Presbyterian Church has sought to
carry on its work, in the main, through independ-
ent agencies, leaving the presbyteries and synod as
places for fellowship, for maintaining the doctrinal
integrity and purity of the church, and for giving
witness for Christ against the apostasy. By this
system, from the very beginning, it endorsed such
independent agencies as The Independent Board
for Presbyterian Foreign Missions and Faith Theo-
logical Seminary.

In its constitution the Bible Presbyterian
Church adopted the principle of states' rights and

128

decentralization, believing that presbyteries and
synods should have no power unless it is
specifically granted in the constitution. Bitter
experience has shown that, when a church be-
comes bureaucratic and a denomination seeks to
control and run all of its agencies from the top,
the result is a form of ecclesiastical socialism,
inefficiency, an increasing sense of irresponsibility,
and the rise of an ecclesiastical machine within a
church seeking to obtain certain ends through
powerful agencies. The agencies seek to dominate
and control and direct the affairs of the church,
instead of the church directing the agencies.

It is within the genius of freedom that the

church should support agencies, not because of
some ecclesiastical sanction, but because the
agencies merit their support because of their stand
and efficiency of operation. This system means, of
course, that, when trouble develops in the church,
all the movement is not lost with one struggle.
There are checks and restraints and both the
local churches and the individuals who are a part
of the independent agencies feel a greater sense of
responsibility for the movement and for the
church.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian
Foreign Missions

The Bible Presbyterian Church is a missionary
church and preaches the Gospel of salvation with
its emphasis upon winning men to Christ. The aim
of its members is loyalty to God's Word and the
extension of His Gospel to the ends of the earth.
This emphasis is only natural because the great
conflict which brought issues to a head in the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. ("The Old
Church") centered around The Independent
Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions and the
trials of the members of the Independent Board,
including Dr. J. Gresham Machen, the first presi-
dent of the Board, and others. The Rev. Harold
Samuel Laird, D.D., was the second president of
the Independent Board succeeding Dr. Machen.
He served as president from 1936 to 1950; then
the Rev. J. Gordon Holdcroft, D.D., was elected
to that office.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian
Foreign Missions was organized in 1933 and
chartered in 1934 for the purpose of establishing
and maintaining "truly Biblical missions" among
all nations. Its purpose is: (1) to aid in fulfilling
Christ's commission to preach the Gospel to every
creature according to the principles and methods
laid down in the Scriptures; (2) to defend the
Faith; (3) to provide for missionaries a board
under which they can serve God and the people
to whom they are sent, free from fear that their
efforts may be undermined by the unbelief of the
supporting agency at home: (4) to provide for
faithful, Bible-believing Christians an agency
through which they can send their money with
confidence that it will be used to preach the true
Gospel.

In pursuance of this high calling and working
on the basis of the above-mentioned principles,
the Board at first carried on its work within the
bounds of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

However, when the Board's members were
suspended from their office as ministers, an exodus
from the church to which most had belonged
began and resulted in the formation of new
churches dedicated to preserving the purity of
the faith.

It was the formation of The Independent
Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions and its
testimony which led to the organization of the
Bible Presbyterian Church in 1938. The very first
Svnod commended the Board to the churches in
its fellowship in the following resolution:

The Bible Presbyterian Church wishes to
express its thanks to Almighty God for The
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign
Missions. It rejoices in the testimony of this
Board to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, expresses
its desire to support the Board in any way
possible, and prays for the blessing of God
upon its missionaries and members.

Believing that the Independent Board is
an agency faithfully representing the Gospel
in all its fulness, and in loyalty to Presbyterian
doctrine and polity, the General Synod com-
mends it to the confidence, the support, and
the prayers of Christian people.
As of July, 1966, the Board has 69 mission-
aries serving in 14 countries: East Africa, Jordan,
Lebanon, Arabia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Guate-
mala, India, Japan, Korea, Free China, Singapore,
and Europe.

The First President

The Rev. J. Gresham Machen,
D.D., Litt.D., was God's chief instru-
ment in providing for Presbyterians
everywhere a Board, true to the
Faith, through which they could
reach out to a sin-sick world. Upon
its bounding, Dr. Machen was elected
president of the Independent Board
and served until just before his death
on January 1, 1937.

DR. MACHEN'S PROFESSION OF FAITH

On Sunday evening, March 17, 1935, Dr. Machen

preached in the First Presbyterian Church of

Pittsburgh, Pa. In his sermon he said:

"Just before I stand before that Commission next
Tuesday morning at ten o'clock in the First Presby-
terian Church of Trenton, N. J., I have a profession
of my faith to make. I cannot make it before the Com-
mission because the Commission has barred from dis-
cussion everything really relevant to the questions
at issue and has thus refused even to hear my case.
But I am going to make it before this congregation
tonight, and I know that every real Christian here
will sympathize with me when I make it.

129

"My profession of faith is simply that I know
nothing of the Christ proclaimed through the Auburn
Affirmation by the Moderator of that Commission. 1
know nothing of a Christ who is presented to us in a
human book containing errors, but know only a Christ
presented in a divine Book, the Bible, which is true
from beginning to end. I know nothing of a Christ
who possibly was and possibly was not born of a
virgin, but know only a Christ who was truly con-
ceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin
Mary. I know nothing of a Christ who possibly did
and possibly did not work miracles, but know only a
Christ who said to the winds and the waves, with the
sovereign voice of the Maker and Ruler of all nature,
'Peace, be still.' I know nothing of a Christ who
possibly did and possibly did not come out of the
tomb on the first Easter morning, but know only a
Christ who triumphed over sin and the grave and is
living now in His glorified body until He shall come
again and I shall see Him with my very eyes. I know
nothing of a Christ who possibly did and possibly did
not die as my substitute on the cross, but know only
a Christ who took upon Himself the just punishment
of my sins and died there in my stead to make me
right with the holy God.

"I must be true to that Christ of the Bible, despite
all efforts of Auburn Affirmationists and the
ecclesiastical machinery to make me untrue. I
promised to be true to that Christ when I took my
solemn ordination pledge as a minister, and I cannot
break that promise now. I cannot support the anti-
Christian propaganda now being furthered by the
official Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A. I cannot place the shifting votes
of General Assemblies or any other human councils
in a place of authority that rightly belongs only to
the Word of God.

"I have offered to defend my position about both
these points. I have offered to prove that the Board
of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in
the United States of America is unfaithful to its great
trust. I have offered to prove that the action of the
last General Assembly requiring me to resign from
The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign
Missions is contrary to the constitution of the church.
The Commission has refused even to listen to my
evidence. It has refused to listen to any argument by
my counsel, the Rev. H. McAllister Griffiths. It will
of course condemn me. But I had rather be con-
demned for an honest adherence to the Bible and to
my solemn ordination pledge than enjoy even the
highest ecclesiastical honors and emoluments as the
reward of dishonesty."

The Present President

The Rev. J. Gordon Holdcroft, D.D., has spent
more than 25 years in dedicated ministry in the U.S.A.
as an administrative officer of The Independent
Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. He was a

130

noted missionary for 35 years of consecrated service
for the Lord in Korea.

Dr. Holdcroft's ministry as a missionary began
after his graduation from Park College in 1903, when
he went to Korea as an assistant to a pioneer Presby-
terian missionary. After a short term of service Dr.
Holdcroft returned to America to study at Princeton
Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated
in 1908. He was accepted as a missionary by the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions and assigned
to Korea. While waiting to go to the field he supplied
the pulpit of a church in Cooperstown, N. Y. During
this period he met Miss Nellie Cowman whom he
married in 1909. Together they left for Korea that
same year.

J. Gordon Holdcroft,
President,
Independent Board

Dr. Holdcroft for years gave much time to
evangelistic and Bible teaching work in Korea,
traveling thousands of miles by horseback, bicycle,
and on foot, accompanied by a man with a pack-
pony carrying food, clothing, books, bedding, and
other essentials. In 1919 the Holdcrofts witnessed an
unsuccessful attempt by the Koreans to overthrow
the oppressive Japanese rule and the Japanese
inflicted cruel reprisals. The executive committee of
the Presbyterian Mission in Korea decided to send
two of its members. Dr. Walter C. Erdman and Dr.
Holdcroft, to speak for the Korean people and to
appeal to the central government of Japan for a
more tolerant rule. Their negotiations were successful
and the Japanese government assigned to Korea a
governor with more understanding than the former
militarist governors had shown.

During his missionary service Dr. Holdcroft was
engaged in evangelistic work continuously, having
had charge at various times of up to 70 churches,
involving both Bible teaching and supervision.

As early as 1934 the Japanese State Shinto question
became a major issue among the missions and
churches. Many yielded to the government's demands
to do obeisance at the shrines. Dr. Holdcroft with
others steadfastly refused to bow before the State
Shinto shrines, realizing that to do so was much more
than a patriotic gesture, but idolatry, worship of the
sun-goddess of the Japanese.

Besides the shrine issue at this time, modernism

was gaining ground among missionaries in the field
and in the Board of Foreign Missions. Letters from
the Board instructed the missionaries to "work within
the thought pattern of any country to which they
should go." These conditions compelled the Holdcrofts
to give serious consideration to their future ministry,
and in 1939 they resigned from the Presbyterian
Board of Foreign Missions and turned to the Inde-
pendent Board, and were appointed by that Board as
missionaries in Korea. Soon after his appointment as a
missionary he was asked to become the general
secretary of the Independent Board and he served
in that capacity until 1950 when he was elected to
be its president, which office he still holds. His
leadership, under God, has done much for the
advancement of truly Biblical missions in a day when
many are compromising the great principles and
doctrines of the Word of God.

The General Secretary

The Rev. J. Philip Clark, D.D., became the
general secretary of The Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions in 1957. He is a
graduate of John Brown University, 1942, and Faith
Theological Seminary, 1945, when he was appointed
a missionary by the Board. While waiting appoint-
ment to a specific field he was in missionary service
to the Navajo Indians under the National Missions
Committee of the Synod until 1949. During 1949-
1950 he ministered to Bible Presbyterian churches
in North Dakota — Wilton, Dodge, Underwood, and
Glendale. From 1950 to 1957 he was on active duty
as a chaplain in the United States Air Force. He
presently holds an assignment in the Air Force
Reserves as Staff Chaplin, 21st Air Force, McGuire
Air Force Base, New Jersey.

J. Philip Clark,
General Secretary,
Independent Board

Dr. Clark currently holds the following offices:
member of the executive committee of the American
and International Councils of Christian Churches;
president of The Associated Missions of the ICCC;
president of the Navajo Bible School and Mission of
Window Rock, Ariz.; president of the Christian
School of Germantown; member of the Radio and
Audio-Film Commission of the American Council
of Christian Churches.

The Independent Board for Presbyterian
Home Missions

"So built we the wall . . . for the people had a
mind to work" (Neh. 4:6).

The Independent Board for Presbyterian
Home Missions was organized in June, 1955, for
the purposes of evangelizing the lost; challenging
the apostasy; and building new Bible Presbyterian
churches. Since its organization, more that 54 per
cent of the active Bible Presbyterian churches
have at one time been under the Home Board for
financial or pastoral support. Most of them have
become self-supporting churches and, in turn,
have included the work of Home Missions in their
monthly church budgets.

Under the direction of Dr. Lynn Gray Gordon,
general secretary of the Board since 1962, the
Board carries on an aggressive program. Activities
of the Board include:

Church Builder's Bulletin, a monthly pub-
lication of church news and doctrinal studies
in the Westminster Confession of Faith,
edited by Dr. Gordon. The Doctrinal Studies
series is available for weekly use in Bible
study classes.

"Reformation Bible Hour," a radio pro-
gram under the direction of Dr. Gordon,
heard every Sunday over Station WXUR.
The program features Bible study and shows
the need for Bible-believing churches in this
day of departure from historic Christian
truths.

The Clyde J. Kennedy Memorial Building
Fund, a fund begun for the purpose of
establishing truly Biblical Presbyterian
churches in the U.S.A. The fund will be used
exclusively for the purchase or construction
of adequate quarters for Bible Presbyterian
churches.

Monthly Prayer Lists are available for
distribution from the Home Board office as
church calendar inserts. Prayer items are given
for each day of the month. The list includes
current listing of churches receiving financial
aid, churches without pastors, and items for
special prayer. The Board currently super-
vises 16 new fields, including missionaries to
the Jewish people and the Navajo Indians.

AU interested Presbyterians are invited to help
in the work of the Board which was set up to
"preserve the Faith, in faith."

131

The General Secretanj

The Re\'. Lynn Gray Gordon, D.D., Cherry Hill,
N. J., is presently the general secretary of the
Independent Board for Presbyterian Home Missions.
He has had pastorates in the states of Pennsylvania,
California, and ^^'ashington. He also has ser\'ed as
president of Highland College, a fundamental liberal
arts college located in Pasadena, Calif.

Dr. Gordon was graduated from Texas Techno-
logical College, Lubbock, Texas, and Faith The-
ological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pa. He has done
graduate work at Har\'ard and Vanderbilt.

Lynn Gray Gordon,
General Secretary,
Home Missions Board

He served in both World War H and the Korean
War. From 1945 to 1956 he ser\'ed as Base X Sanitary
Engineer with headquarters in the Marsden Building
and covered most of Luzon Island in an advisory
capacity as a sanitary engineer. During the Korean
War he served on active duty as a chaplain during
the years 1952 to 1954. He served in Korea as
Regimental Chaplain, 32nd Infantry Regiment. At
present he is a Lt. Col. in the Army Reserve as a
chaplain.

Dr. Gordon is also a member of the Committee for
Counsel of International Christian Youth and a
member of the Board of Directors of The Inde-
pendent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions,
Reformation Gospel Publications Committee, Faith
Theological Seminary, Shelton College, and 20th
Century Overcomers. He is chairman of the Com-
mission on Chaplains for the American Council of
Christian Churches.

Friends of Israel Testimony to Christ, Inc.

This work to .reach the Hebrew people with
the Gospel was organized in 1953 at the annual
meeting of the Bible Presbyterian Church held
at Faith Theological Seminary. A board composed
of Bible Presbyterian ministers interested in such
a work was organized. The general secretary is the
Rev. Philip duB. Arcularius, and the Rev. Joseph

132

F. Misicka is the treasurer of this evangelistic
work.

The General Secretanj

The work of Friends of Israel Testimony to Christ
is carried on by the Rev. and Mrs. Arcularius. Mr.
Arcularius is an alumnus of Yale University, class of
1925. Following his graduation he was employed by
Electrical Research Products and Continential Type-
founders Co. of New York City. In the fall of 1929,
responding to the Lord's call to service in the Chris-
tian ministry, he entered Auburn Theological
Seminary. There, as he sat in theology classes under
Dr. John C. Bennett, the Lord revealed to him the
difference between modernism and the Christian
faith. In the fall of 1930 he transferred to Princeton
Theological Seminary from which he was graduated
in 1932.

Mr. Arcularius began his pastorate in the First
Presbyterian Church of Duryea, Pa., shortly after
his ordination in October, 1933. In April, 1936, he
was instrumental in leading the church to declare
its independency from the apostate U.S.A. Presby-
terian Church. The church remained independent for
three years and in 1939 joined the Bible Presbyterian
Synod.

Rev. and Mrs. Philip duB. Arcularius

When Mr. Arcularius resigned from the First
Bible Presbyterian Church of Duryea, he was faced
with the problem of accepting another pastorate or
entering another phase of the Lord's work. During
his pastorate he had frequently heard visiting
speakers present the need of reaching the Hebrew
people for Christ, and had also attended Bible con-
ferences where that phase of Christian service was
presented. As he prayed concerning the next step in
his life, Mr. Arcularius and his wife saw that the
evangelization of the Hebrew people was a neglected
field, and, believing that the Lord would have them
in this field, in March, 1944, organized "The Christian
Witness to Israel in the Lackawanna and Wyoming
Valleys." In 1946, they moved to Lakewood, N. J.,
where they continue to witness for Christ among the
Hebrew people.

Mr. Arcularius has been a member of The
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions
since 1937 and on its executive committee since

1956. He also serves as secretary and professor of the
Reformation Bible Institute at Collingswood, N. J.

Faith Theological Seminary

Faith Theological Seminary was founded in
1937 to train men for Christian leadership in these
days of widespread denial of the Word of God as
to its claims to be supernaturally inspired and
historically true, as to its prophetic declarations,
and as to its demands for Christian living. The
Seminary aims to combine the highest Christian
scholarship with vital spiritual life. Its ideal is
expressed in its charter in the following words:

The said Corporation is formed for the pur-
pose of establishing and maintaining a The-
ological Seminary of high educational effi-
ciency and absolute lovalty to the Christian
religion as taught in the Old and New Testa-
ments. . . . Faith Theological Seminary is to
train thoroughly furnished and consecrated
leadership for the Church of Christ. In every
phase of its work the highest possible stand-
ards of scholarship are to be maintained. Its
graduates are to be well fitted to defend the
full truthfulness of the Word of God against
all attacks of modern infidelity or naturalism,
and to interpret it in the hght of careful and
accurate study of its words in the original
languages. The teaching is to be true to the
great Christian fundamentals, including the

premillennial return of Christ. The system of
doctrine contained in the Scriptures and
expounded in the historic Westminster Con-
fession of Faith and Catechisms shall form
the basis of the instruction. True piety is to
be nurtured, and an attitude of devotion and
constant prayerfulness inculcated.

Faith Theological Seminary, Facade

FACULTY AT FAITH SEMINARY Left to r/g/7f— Rev. A.Frank- Eppard, Dr. A. A. MacRae, Rev. R. J. Dunzweiler, Mr. R. J.
lin Faucette, Mr. T. V. Taylor, Rev. W. N. Harding, Dr. A. W. Vannoy, and Rev. Gary G. Cohen

133

The Seminary was founded in 1937 as a result
of the gathering apostasy in the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A. It was founded without
resources, but with faith in God and with a great
conviction that there is only one Gospel and that
it and it alone must be preached to the ends of the
earth. Its slogan in those early years was, "For
the Faith, by faith." The Seminary has grown in
size, resources, and constituency. In 1941 it out-
grew the Sunday school building of the First
Independent Church in Wilmington, Del., and
through the generous gift of a friend, occupied a
nearby mansion, Huston Hall, where it enjoyed
the blessing of God to a marked degree.

Again the Seminary outgrew its quarters and,
finding no practical way of expansion in Wilming-
ton, it purchased its present property in Elkins
Park, Pa., in a lovely residential section less than a
mile north of the city limits of Philadelphia.

The Library at Faith

The Seminary faithfully continues to carry out
its purpose as expressed in its charter. It works
in close fellowship with the Bible Presbyterian
Church, the Independent Boards for Presbyterian
Home and Foreign Missions, the American and
International Councils of Christian Churches, and
with all who stand uncompromisingly for the faith
once delivered to the saints.

134

Student Body, Faith Theological Seminary, 1965-1966

The graduates of the Seminary are serving in
many capacities — as pastors, missionaries, chap-
lains, teachers, and workers in specialized fields.
God has signally blessed their ministry, and their
record is an adequate proof of the wisdom of the
founders and of the correctness of the high ideals
of the Seminary.

The First General Synod of the Bible Presby-
terian Church, meeting in 1938, adopted the
following resolution:

Whereas, there is no greater need in the
Christian world than the training of ministers
able to present the Gospel of Christ and to
defend and expound the Word of God faith-
fully and truly; and

Whereas, such an institution must be
scholarly, able to deal fairly and comprehen-
sively with the best thought of modem times
and also uncompromising in its attitude
toward unbelief and uncleanness, whether of
doctrine or of life; and

Whereas, Faith Theological Seminary
with its splendid corps of highly trained and
consecrated teachers is admirably meeting
this need;

Therefore, be it resolved that we, the
General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian
Church, give thanks for the establishment of
Faith Theological Seminary and for the way
in which His signal blessing has rested upon
the institution;

And be it further resolved that we com-
mend Faith Theological Seminary to Chris-
tians everywhere in order that it may receive
that support, both in prayers and in gifts,
which will enable it to continue and to grow.

Dr. Allan A. MacRae

Dr. AUan A. MacRae, A.B., A.M., Th.B., Ph.D.,
Phi Beta Kappa, F.R.G.S., is president of Faith
Theological Seminary, which position he has held
since the Seminary's founding in 1937.

Dr. Allan A.
President

MacRae,

Dr. MacRae took his A.B. and A.M. degrees at
Occidental College in Los Angeles, Calif., 1922 and
1923. He later completed work for an additionarA.M.
degree at Princeton University in 1927, and received
his Th.B. degree at Princeton Theological Seminary
the same year. He attended the University of Berlin,
Germany, 1927-1929, the American School of Oriental
Research, Jerusalem, in 1929, and received his Ph.D.
degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1936.

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in the wilderness, even so must the >

• of map be lifted up;
:. IS That whosoever believeth in 1
.*' should not perish, but have eternal 1
■ 16 •! For God so loved the world, i
'.7 he gave his only begotten Son. t
whosoever believeth in him should
perish, but have everlasting life.

P For God sent not his Son into
world to condemn the world; but t
the world through him might be saved

18 ^ He that believeth on him is
condemned: but he that believeth no
condemned already, because he hath

He is a member of the executive committee of
The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign
Missions, the Independent Board for Presbyterian
Home Missions, and vice-president of the American
Scientific Affiliation.

Highland College

Highland College was founded under the
leadership of the late Dr. Clyde J. Kennedy in
the spring of the year 1950. Dr. Kennedy had been
the pastor since 1943 of the Calvary Bible Presby-
terian Church of Glendale, Calif., a church which
had come into being as a result of a separation
movement from the First Presbyterian Church of
Glendale. Mr. Kennedy himself had left the Pres-
byterian ministry because of the apostasy, follow-
ing his graduation from Princeton Theological

Seminary in 1936, and about five years of ministry
in the Presbyterian Church, first in Los Angeles
and then in Gainesville, Texas. By 1949, as a vig-
orous and rising leader in the Bible Presbyterian
Church and the American Council of Christian

Churches, Mr. Kennedy became convinced that
there must be estabUshed a college to prepare a
trained leadership and workers for the Twentieth
Century Reformation movement and for the Bible
Presbyterian Church.

The search was begun for a suitable property
in the Los Angeles area in 1949. A campus was
found in nearby Pasadena, occupied since 1928
by the Southern California Bible College. This
school was moving to more spacious quarters in
June, 1950, and the property was for sale. The
price of $10,000 down with a mortgage of $105,-
000 was a fine bargain for more than four acres
of choice residential area property and buildings
which would cost today a million dollars to re-
place.

A small group of ministers and elders, all, ex-
cept one, Bible Presbyterians, gathered together
to form the original Board of Trustees of High-
land College. Mr. John E. Carson, elder in the
Glendale church, an attorney in Southern Cali-
fornia since the 1920's came forward to provide
the down payment as a gift from himself and his
wife, Grace Carson. The College was incorporated
on May 4, 1950, with plans to begin classes in
September of that year.

It was with this God-given challenge in his
heart and with the promises of God for encourage-
ment, that Clyde Kennedy took leave of absence
from his pulpit for three months for the purpose
of touring the nation to raise support and find
students for the new colle-ge.

However, as Mr. Kennedy traveled across the
United States visiting Bible Presbyterian churches
and pastors, he found that, although many
were sympathetic with the project, a considerable
number thought that the Bible Presbyterian
Church could not support such an institution. But,
man of faith, courage, and complete devotion to
Christ as Clyde Kennedy was, he had no course
but to follow the light by which God was leading
him. Many friends and churches responded and
God gave the help and encouragement that was
needed to bring the infant college to the light of
day.

Classes began on September 18, 1950, with
two students in attendance and a third scheduled
to arrive several weeks late. The second semester
two more students arrived to raise the student
body to five. During the next two years the stu-
dent body slowly grew until it reached about
seventeen in the fall of 1952. In the meantime
the pressure of large payments on the mortgage
became too great to sustain. In answer to prayer

136

the Layne Foundation which holds the mortgage
graciously agreed to reduce the payments to a
manageable though formidable figure of $787.50
monthly, which the Lord has supplied until the
main $60,000-note was paid off in August, 1965,
leaving just the remaining $45,000-note to be
cleared away.

The College carried on the first two years
without a president at the helm, but with Mr.
Kennedy serving as executive vice-president. In
1952, a man became available who appeared to
be the right one to fill the position of president
of Highland College. He was Robert G. Rayburn,
the man who had succeeded Clyde Kennedy in
the Gainesville, Texas, Presbyterian Church and
was subsequently brought to trial and expelled
from the Presbyterian ministry for the sin of cor-
responding with the extremist, Carl Mclntire! Dr.
Rayburn had then led a group out of the old
church to form a new Bible Presbyterian Church.
It seemed that surely this was a man who would
guide the College in a strong testimony as an ac-
tive agency of the Twentieth Century Reforma-
tion.

From 1952 to 1954, the College grew rapidly
under Dr. Rayburn's direction. The student body
increased to 40 and then to 60 students by the fall
of 1954. But in October of 1953 signs began to
appear that the new president was not wholly in
accord with the Twentieth Century Reformation
testimony. At the convention of the American
Council of Christian Churches held in Los Angeles
that October an abortive attempt was made pub-
licly to humiliate the leadership of the Council.
Then the 1954 Greenville Synod was made the
battleground for a continued attack against the
ACCC. During the next fall, tensions began to
develop between factions within the faculty and
student body of Highland College. In mid-Feb-
ruary of 1955 the president expelled a student for
raising questions about these problems. This pre-
cipitate action led to the crucial Board meeting of
March 1, 1955, at which the president's resignation
was received.

This drastic action was plainly necessary to
preserve the position of Highland true to the
Scriptural principles and commission which had
motivated the founders of the College, but it
brought a shocked reaction all across the country
in the Bible Presbyterian churches. This was, in
fact, the beginning of the division of the Bible
Presbyterian Church which, in the course of the
next few years, produced first the Collingswood
Synod and the Columbus Synod, the latter be-

coining the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and,
ultimately, the Reformed Presbyterian Church,
Evangelical Synod.

Neither the 1955 division at Highland College
nor the subsequent split of the Bible Presbyterian
Church was the result of mere clash of personality
or of competition for power, as some have claim-
ed. The proof came with the passing vears as
Covenant College and the Evangelical Presbyte-
rian Church, having repudiated the American and
International Councils, slowly slipped into in-
creasing compromise and growing association with
the New Evangelical movement. In contrast, the
Bible Presbyterian Church continues with its
original testimony unchanged, and Highland Col-
lege stands with no deviation whatsoever from its
original position and purpose.

♦ *.rj

Board of Trustees of Highland College

*i- .

Fall Candlelight Choir Program

Highland College Faculty

Highland College Alumni

at Bible Presbyterian Synod, 1965

In the fall of 1954, before the division, the
Board of Trustees, realizing that a storm was
threatening, had called the Rev. Lynn Gray Gor-
don to the position of executive vice-president at
Highland College. He was just completing two
years of fruitful ministry in the U.S. Army Chap-
laincy when he accepted this call. When the presi-
dent was dismissed. Dr. Gordon was appointed
acting president first and then president. He pro-
vided leadership for the College during two of
the most difficult years of the history of the insti-
tution, and the Lord used Dr. Gordon's dedicated
and self-sacrificing service to guide the College
into calmer waters. In July, 1957, Dr. Robert E.
Kofahl was appointed to the office of president
after having served on the faculty for seven years.

Thirty-five graduates are actively serving the
Lord in some phase of the Twentieth Century
Reformation movement or are in advanced studies
or other training for service. Thirteen Highland
graduates are ordained to the Gospel ministry in
the Bible Presbyterian Church, four are on the
mission field, four are in teaching, administrative,
or other types of Christian service, and eight are
students at Faith Theological Seminary, following

137

in the steps of the nine others who have previously
graduated from Faith.

Highland College is noted for active involve-
ment in the current issues and activities related to
the Biblical separatist testimony and the battle to
preserve our faith and freedoms.

The Lord has used the prayers and the sup-
port and assistance of many churches, pastors, and
members in the Bible Presbyterian Church to
make possible the work of this institution which
holds such promise for the future of the Bible
Presbyterian Church and the global testimony for
the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus
Christ, of which our church is a part. — Robert
E. Kofahl.
Robert E. Kofahl, B.S., Ph. D.

Dr. Robert E. Kofahl is president of Highland
College, having accepted that position in Julv,
1957. He received his elementary and high school
training in the public schools of Glendale, Calif.
He entered the California Institute of Technology
in the fall of 1942. His education was interrupted
by three years in the Army, 1943 to 1946, and
while in the Army he had two terms of engineer-
ing studies at Stanford University. After his mili-
tary service he re-entered Caltech and received
the B.S. degree in chemistry in June, 1949. He
continued in graduate studies in chemistry and
received the Ph.D. degree in June, 1954.

Dr. Robert E. Kofahl,
President,
Highland College

Dr. Kofahl has been an elder in the Calvary
Bible Presbyterian Church, Glendale, Calif., since
January, 1961, and has served as elder-delegate
numerous times in both the Presbytery of Califor-
nia and the annual Synod.

He was a member of the original faculty of
Highland College when the College was organized
and opened classes in the fall of 1950.

Organizations in which Dr. Kofahl has had an
active part through the years include: Member of
the executive committee of the American Council

of Christian Churches of California for about ten
years, having served as secretary, vice-president,
and treasurer; member of the Board of Trustees
since the inception in 1953 of Westminster Acad-
emy, a Christian elementary school associated with
the Bible Presbyterian Church in Glendale.

Shelton College

"Training Christian Warriors"

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge" (Prov. 1:7).

Shelton College is a coeducational, independ-
ent, four-year liberal arts college which was estab-
lished for the purpose of "training Christian war-
riors."

Temporary Home of Shelton College

Shelton College is accredited by the New Jer-
sey State Board of Education and authorized to
confer the Bachelor of Arts degree. Graduates
with good academic records at Shelton are readily
accepted in graduate schools and universities.
Shelton College is distinctively unique in that it
is conservative, evangelical, scholarly, and militant.

Shelton College is an outgrowth of the activi-
ties of the Union Missionary Training Institute of
Brooklyn ( New York ) which was founded by Mrs.
Lucy D. Osbom in 1885, incorporated in 1891, and
consolidated with the National Bible Institute in
1916. The National Bible Institute of New York

138

City was founded by Dr. and Mrs. Don Shelton in
1907 and incorporated in 1908. It became Shelton
College in 1950.

In 1954, after moving to the Skylands Campus
in Ringwood, N. J., the New Jersey State Board of
Education authorized Shelton College to award
the Bachelor of Arts degree.

In addition to its expressed evangelical and
missionary purposes, the faculty and trustees be-
lieve that the proper education of Christian young
people must include a broad liberal arts curricu-
lum. Today, Shelton College is preparing young
people for service, not only as missionaries and
ministers, but as teachers, linguists, musicians,

Heritage House, Administration Building of Slielton College

scientists, doctors. The college philosophy de-
mands that spiritual zeal must always be comple-
mented by thorough academic preparation.

World Councils of Churches, communicant mem-
bers of churches in those councils are not included
among the members of the faculty or the Board of
Trustees.

Parallel to the academic program of the Col-
lege, students participate in a variety of extracur-
ricular activities and engage regularly in Christian
service through Gospel teams, visitation, and by
assisting nearby churches and Sunday schools.

During the summer of 1964, Shelton College
moved from its Skylands Campus in New Jersey's
Ramapo Mountains to Cape May, N. J., just a few
rods from the Atlantic Ocean.

Students are presently housed at the Christian
Admiral Bible Conference and Freedom Center.
The large building and the adjacent Robert Lee
Gardner Memorial Auditorium also provide class-
room, laboratory, dining room, and recreational
facilities.

One of Shelton's Classes

To train the type of Christian leaders that are
needed, Shelton College maintains unswerving
loyalty to the Christian faith. Because of the pres-
ence of widespread apostasy in the National and

Dr. Gordon Drake

Dr. Gordon Drake, dean of Shelton College,
holds an earned doctorate from the University of
Denver in the field of education and high educa-
tion administration. His undergraduate degree in
English literature and music was earned at the
University of Wisconsin. He holds the Master's
degree in education and guidance from Arizona
State College.

Dr. Drake has been a member of the Lutheran
Church of America, a denomination in the liberal
World Council of Churches. He was asked by the
Lutheran board of foreign missions to serve as
chief administrator for all the Lutheran schools in
Hong Kong for the academic year. However, be-
cause of his deep Christian conviction, love for
God's truth, and rejection of liberalism, he felt

139

compelled to resign from the Lutheran Church
and to leave the ecumenical movement.

He comes to Shelton College at a crucial mo-
ment in Shelton's history. As professor and dean,
his academic credentials are beyond dispute.

Dr. Gordon V. Drake, Dean of the College

Dr. Drake holds a number of distinctions. He
has served as president of the Wisconsin Personnel
and Guidance Association and Director of the Wis-
consin Foundation for Educational Research. He
earned the Americanism Award of the American
Legion in 1964 for his leadership in opposition to
the expanding use of liberal and socialist history
textbooks for the inculcation of the socialist inter-
pretation of history. In 1962, he was a candidate
for Congress in the Sixth District of Wisconsin on
the Democratic Party ticket.

Reformation Bible Institute

The Reformation Bible Institute was planned
in the summer of 1960, by a group of Bible Presby-
terian ministers and laymen belonging to the
Presbyteries of New Jersey and the Philadelphia
Area who saw a need for training lay men and
women for Christian work. These included three
professors of Faith Theological Seminary — the
Rev. Robert J. Dunzweiler, the Rev. Dr. Alfred W.
Eppard, and the Rev. David K. Myers.

The first draft of the constitution was drawn
up by the Rev. Mr. Dunzweiler, who worked hard
on it and on the plans for the school, as did Mr.
Robert E. Koehler and Mr. Robert E. Baker,
elders, respectively, of the West Berlin, N. J., and

140

Collingswood, N. J., Bible Presbyterian Churches.
Mr. Koehler was elected the president, and Mr.
Baker the treasurer of the Board. The Rev. Philip
duB. Arcularius was chosen as the secretary.

The school was started on the basis of two
evenings a week, Monday and Thursday. Two
classes were taught the first period; then there was
a chapel period; and, following that, another class.
The last two years, there have been just two
classes an evening, with chapel in between. But
with the fall semester of 1966, it is planned to
have three classes, successively, starting a half-
hour earlier, at seven o'clock, with chapel following
the second class; and the periods will be shortened
by five minutes. This will allow for a somewhat
greater diversity of subjects taught in order to
increase the appeal of the school.

Plans for the fall of 1966 include the addition
of the Rev. John V. Crier Koontz, a member of
the Board, to teach Hebrews and Leviticus; the
Rev. Robert V. Dickerson, recently added to the
Board, to teach Eschatology, both on Thursdays,
along with the Rev. Mr. Arcularius teaching the
Westminster Confession of Faith. The Rev. Dr.
Eppard is to teach Romans the first semester and
Modern Religious Problems the second; Mr. John
W. Rhoads is to teach Church History; Mr. Baker
is to teach the Gospel of John, the second semes-
ter; and a first semester course will be divided
between Foreign and Home Missions, with the
Rev. Dr. Lynn Gray Gordon teaching the latter,
and the Rev. Dr. Irwin W. Steele the former.

The Lord has used the Reformation Bible In-
stitute. In addition to three young men who left
the school to prepare for the Gospel ministry,
others have taken teaching positions in the Sun-
day school of the Bible Presbyterian Church of
Collingswood; and, at that church's last congrega-
tional meeting, two of the promising young men
students were elected as elders. The students, both
those studying for credit and those just auditing
the courses, have ranged in age from 10 to 83
years! In it all we have seen the hand of God work-
ing to bless our Bible Presbyterian Church.

20th Century Overcomers

20th Century Overcomers is the young people's
division of the Twentieth Century Reformation
movement, created in 1959 to challenge modem
young people and show them the creativity and
enthusiastic purpose inherent in Christianity.

20th CENT>

'OMERS, mc.

20th Century Overcomers provides a dynamic
new program designed to build future Christian
leadership and, within the framework of the local
church, show today's youth the satisfaction which
comes as they become soul-winning Christians
participating in activities of the Twentieth Cen-
tury RefoiTTiation.

Dr. and Mrs. Allan A. MacRae and son, John. Mrs. MacRae
Is the founder of 20th Century Overcomers, author of "Making
the Bible Live" series, and president of the corporation. She
is also author of many of the helps.

The purpose and scope of the 20th Century
Overcomers' program is "to win the young people
of our generation to the Lord Jesus Christ; to pre-
pare and provide materials and support for their
growth in grace and for their training to be used
of the Holy Spirit as the soldiers of Christ in the

Battle of the Last Days; to organize, conduct, and
carry on Sunday youth meetings, weekday activ-
ities, rallies, retreats, and seasonal camps and con-
ferences."

The 20th Century Overcomers' program is the
product of the combined efforts and talents of
experienced Christian ministers, missionaries, and
educators with young people in view. These re-
sponsible Protestant men and women are produc-
ing a systematic, graded program of education and
effort tailored to each vouth division in the church.
The courses correspond in challenge and depth to
the school level of each group. Study activities
within each group are planned to fill the Sunday
night \ outh hour in the church, and, in addition,
provide Christ-centered weekday programs for
each division. Studv courses are designed for:

Primary 20th Century Overcomers, for ages
6 to 9, corresponds to school grades 1 through 3.
In this period, the lessons are taught from "Mak-
ing the Bible Live " series. This series starts with
Genesis and will ultimately run through the en-
tire Bible. Quarterh' lesson books are furnished
with flannelgraph helps, and items of interest to
boys and girls of this age. The first four lesson
books are presently available, from Genesis
through First Samuel.

Junior 20th Century Overcomers, for ages 9 to
13, corresponds to school grades 4 through 6. Quar-
terly lesson guides are prepared so that the boys
and girls can take charge of their own meetings,
including leading the meeting and presenting the
lesson materials. Youth who learn at this age to
conduct themselves will be no problem in later
years, but will continue to grow in knowledge and
ability. This is a critical training period. Lesson
materials cover Old Testament overcomers as out-
lined in Hebrews 11, and the life of Christ, the
greatest Overcomer of them all. Further studies
cover additional New Testament overcomers and
continue through church history. Eight lesson
quarterlies are presently available.

Teen-age 20th Century Overcomers, for ages
14 to 17, corresponds to school grades 7 through
12. The lessons for this group are designed to meet
the challenge confronting modem youth in these
days of apostasy where sin abounds on every hand.
The lesson guides have been prepared so that the
boys and girls can take complete charge of their
own meetings. This training is invaluable for tasks
that will shortly confront them. Subject material
is timely and includes: "Helps and Hindrances to
Christian Growth," "Personal Work and Witness-
ing," "The Twentieth Century Reformation," "Mis-

141

sions," and other subjects. Six lesson quarterlies
are available.

Advanced 20th Century Overcomers corre-
sponds to college age, or young adult groups. Les-
son materials are more advanced and are suited to
those who are interested in the more serious study
of the Scriptures. Subjects include "Bible Doctrine, "
"Cults," and "Prophecy." Four lesson quarterlies
are presently available. College age youth are en-
couraged to participate in International Christian
Youth (ICY) which is the action group of the
Twentieth Century Reformation.

Monthly rallies for each group, seasonal con-
ferences, seminars, and summer camps also form
a part of the total program for the youth of the
Reformation Movement.

a home where some of His people could spend the
evening years of their lives in the fellowship of
like-minded folk, free from the cares and burdens
of the world.

"Evening Rest," Delanco, N. J.

In November of 1948, a Board of Directors Was
appointed for the purpose of establishing a Bible
Presbyterian Home. The Rev. Clarence Laman,
one of the founders, served as first president and
chairman of the Board, and also as the first super-
intendent of the Home.

20th Century Overcomers functions in co-op-
eration with the Bible Presbyterian Church and
the American and International Councils of Chris-
tian Churches. Missionary studies and challenges
are presented in co-operation with The Independ-
ent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. The
organization looks to God to supply all necessary
financial support for its work, especially as He
provides through the co-operating groups.

Bible Presbyterian Home, Inc.
— "Evening Rest"

"Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O
God, forsake me not" (Psa. 71:18).

It was because of these words from the mouth
of the Psalmist that a desire had long been in the
hearts of many of God's children to see established

]42

Annex to "Evening Rest"

In December, 1948, a legal option was taken
on a magnificent property in Delanco, N. J., facing
on the Delaware River and beautifully landscaped.
The entire project was a step of faith, each inch of
the way dependent upon the will of God. In order
to exercise the option a sum of $15,000 was re-
quired on March 1, 1949. If this property was the
one the Lord wished the Board to secure. He

would provide the means. On March 1, the Lord
had miraculously made available a little more
than $15,000. He had provided the first payment!
His will was manifest. Succeeding steps of faith
were taken.

Both the State of New Jersey and the Borough
of Delanco granted permission to use the property
chosen for the establishment of such a Home. Ap-
plications for entrance began to come in. On May
2, 1949, what had been for 13 years a prayerful
desire and hope became a reality, provided
through the grace of the Lord.

The original house was built in 1912 by the
owner of the Keystone Watch Case Company,
with a main house consisting of 28 rooms and a
second house of 11 rooms. A third building on the
grounds consisted of a three-car garage with an
attached four-room apartment. It was the desire
of the original builder that some day this property
would become a haven of rest for people who had
worked hard all their lives. He planned the con-
struction of the buildings for such a purpose. Al-
though he lived only six months after the comple-
tion of the property and was not able to consum-
mate his plans, the house was later bought by a
German couple who named the property "Abend
Ruhe." Translated from the German the name is
"Evening Rest." These second owners also envi-

9^111

Rev. Clarence Laman,
First Superintendent
of "Evening Rest"

sioned the hope of some day turning the property
into a private institution, but again, hopes did not
materialize. God in His omnipotence had a more
blessed and great work for this property. The tes-
timony of the place would shine forth, but only
when God was ready for it. The structure is now
serving the ultimate purpose for which it was
built. God in His providence allowed it to be built
by the original owner. He allowed it to be named
by its second owner. And now God is allowing
"Evening Rest" to serve Him as a part of the
Twentieth Century Reformation movement.

"Evening Rest," a nonprofit, independent
agency, is incorporated under the laws and regu-
lations for religious institutions in the State of
New Jersey and is administered under the corpo-
rate title, "Bible Presbyterian Home, Inc." Applica-
tions for admission to the Home from elderly be-
lievers (65 years or over) who are members of
any church associated with the American Coun-
cil of Christian Churches or are in sympathy with
its position are considered.

The Board of Trustees has final authority on
all major decisions, and is responsible for the
financial operation of the Home. However, aid is
also provided by a Women's Executive Board,
which has as its greatest concern the happiness
and welfare of the guests at Delanco and works
hard to provide little extras which make them
more comfortable. Auxiliaries in churches are
under the sponsorship of the Women's Executive
Board and are made up of those men and women
who are interested in the Home and desire to
encourage it by the contribution of one dollar or
more as a membership fee.

The prayers of interested friends are ever
cherished because only through the power of
prayer and the grace of God was this venture
possible and only through prayer can it be main-
tained.

Bible Presbyterian Guest Home

The Bible Presbyterian Guest Home, Inc., in
Lakeland Fla., is a nonprofit institution, estab-
lished by the Bible Presbyterian Church to pro-
vide a home, now under hotel license, for eligible
aged persons from Bible Presbyterian churches
and/or those who are affiliated with the churches
of the American Council of Christian Churches.
The Home is operated by a Board of Directors
under the standards of the Bible Presbyterian
Church and seeks to maintain a high level of
Christian principles in all of its activities.

The Guest Home is ideally situated on a quiet
street a few blocks from downtown Lakeland, on
picturesque Lake Morton, one of Lakeland's 14
beautiful lakes. Shuffleboard courts, a public
library, and a modern air-conditioned community
Civic Center are all close to the Home. Faith
Bible Presbyterian Church is only four blocks
away.

143

Christian fellowship, extra care, family style
meals, and the ideal Florida climate provide a
wonderful atmosphere for rest and relaxation. A
time of Bible study is provided each day after the
evening meal. Special programs are held from
time to time.

Bible Presbyterian Guest Home, Lakeland, Fla.

Modest rates further make the Bible Presby-
terian Guest Home a desirable retirement home.
Residence is available on a weekly, monthly, or
yearly basis. Requirements are few. One must be
a Christian, 50 years old or older, and in reasonably
good health. The Home is not a nursing home.

The Home opened in 1952 with three guests
and has experienced God's blessing in spite of
many trials. In 1965, the Home had 17 guests and
two vacant rooms. The rising cost of living and
other expenses continue to place heavy demands
upon the small resources of this Home which the
Bible Presbyterian Synod commends to the sup-
port and prayers of God's people.

Christian Beacon and

20th Century Reformation Hour

Christian Beacon, an eight-page, tabloid size,
weekly religious newspaper, is edited by the Rev.
Carl Mclntire, D.D. Its first issue came from the
press on February 13, 1936. It contains sermons,
Sunday school lessons, editorials on current re-
ligious happenings, analyses of events that have
special significance to Christians, up-to-date news,
and photographic reproductions of important doc-
uments.

20th Century Reformation Building

It is set for the defense of the Gospel, for the
advancement of the Twentieth Century Reforma-
tion. It is in the forefront of the battle against
modernism, apostasy. Communism, and a one-
world church.

It is especially concerned with the preserva-
tion of the historic Christian faith, fully realizing
that only by the proclamation of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ can a man's soul be saved for all
eternity.

Christian Beacon does not hesitate to expose
attempts to take away freedom of religion or
speech in our country — whether by political party,
religious pressure group, or direct Communist
activity. It champions freedom of speech on the
air waves and opposes the Federal Communica-
tions Commission's limiting of that freedom by
means of its so-called Fairness Doctrine.

The paper has been printed since 1944 by the
Christian Beacon Press, Inc., now located at 28
Irvin Ave., Collingswood, N. J. From 1938 to
1944 it was printed in a small building at Atlantic
Ave. and Cuthbert Blvd., Collingswood; and be-
fore that, 1936 to 1938, it was "farmed out" to
the Berlin Breeze, a publisher in Berlin, N. J.

Christian Beacon sponsors 20TH CENTURY
REFORMATION HOUR, broadcast Monday

144

through Friday from coast to coast and by short
wave around the world.

On March 7, 1955, the first broadcast of the
20th Century Reformation Hour was heard over
one radio station. It is now being heard on ap-
proximately 600 stations in all parts of the coun-
try. People who hear the broadcast are interested
in the Christian Beacon also, and many readers
who could not hear the broadcast, after reading
about it in the Christian Beacon, have been instru-
mental in getting a station in their local area to
take it on.

A very important feature of the 20th Century
Reformation Hour is its distribution of "packets,"
documents which give to the listening audience in
permanent form the information they hear on the
broadcast. Tens of thousands of such pieces of
literature have been mailed out to those request-
ing them.

Dr. Irwin W. Steele

A Christian Beacon in Spanish, Faro Cristiano,
was started in 1965, its first issue appearing on
April 15, 1965. This is not a weekly and has no
set date of issue, but has appeared every three or
four weeks since its first issue. It is hoped it will
soon be a bimonthly publication. The editor is the
Rev. Irwin W. Steele, D.D.

Reformation Gospel Press

The Reformation Gospel Press, Inc., was or-
ganized during the Synod of 1964 to fill an im-
portant need in the Bible Presbyterian Church.
For many years it has been felt that an agency of
this nature has been greatly needed to promote
the work of Christian education in the Bible Pres-
byterian Church. The greatest need in this area
has been that of good Sunday school lessons which
would set forth the doctrines and distinctives of

our church so that our constituents might be well
trained in the Word of God. This organization is
an independent agency dedicated to the promo-
tion of the Bible Presbyterian Church. All of the
officers and members of the board are members
in good standing of the Bible Presbyterian Church.

The president of the board is the Rev. Frank
R. Mood, pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church
of Milford, Del. Mr. Mood was reared in the Col-
hngswood, N. J., Church. He received his B.A. in
Biblical Education from Columbia Bible College,
Columbia, S. C, and B.D. from Faith Theological
Seminary. He has been an active pastor since
1953. Elder Burchelle J. Bashaw, vice-president of
the board, is an active elder in the CoUingswood
Church and a successful businessman. The board
elected Elder Eugene Ganz, an insurance broker
of Manchester, Mo., to be secretary. The treasurer
of the board is the Rev. Dr. Charles E. Richter, an
assistant pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church
of CoUingswood, N. J. Dr. Carl Mclntire is mem-
ber-at-large of the executive committee. Other
members of the board are: Elder Albert C. Cole-
man, Milford, Del.; Rev. Harold Webb, pastor,
Tacoma, Wash.; Elder Robert Cassidy, Greenville,
S. C; Mr. Jon Reid Kennedy, managing editor of
Christian Beacon; Rev. Clyde Worley, pastor,
Annisville, Pa.; Dr. J. Gordon Holdcroft, Inde-
pendent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions;
Dr. Lynn Gray Gordon, Independent Board for
Presbyterian Home Missions.

The Reformation Gospel Press, Inc., is char-
tered in the State of New Jersey so that it can
carry on a full and complete program of Christian
education in the doctrines and standards and dis-
tinctives of the Bible Presbyterian Church. Work
is now in progress on distinctively Bible Presby-
terian Sunday school lessons. The first quarterly,
for Juniors, is planned for the October-December
quarter of 1967. As personnel are available it is
planned to increase this material with an Inter-
mediate Quarterly and with a course for Primaries
and Beginners. It is planned to have these in print
and ready for the January-March quarter of 1968.
Other quarterlies will be added until there is a
full complement of Sunday school lessons for
every department.

The board encourages your prayers for this
work that all may have wisdom and be guided by
the Holy Spirit as they go forward with this im-
portant task. Giving to the board is also encour-
aged, for the expenses are very great. — Frank R.
Mood.

145

christian Beacon Press, Inc.

American Council of Christian Churches

Christian Beacon Press was incorporated in
1940 as a nonprofit corporation of the State of
New Jersey. Its Certificate of Incorporation states
in part:

"The Purposes for which it is formed are as
follows :

"1. To spread the Gospel of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ, and encourage and pro-
mote the teaching, study, and defense of the
Holy Scriptures, according to the fundamen-
talist view, throughout the world, by publish-
ing, printing, advertising, selling, or other-
wise issuing Christian and religious literature,
newspapers, books, periodicals, or other
printed matter, either under the corporation's
name, or as agent for others . . ."

It is this printing establishment that has
printed the millions of copies of the Christian
Beacon that have gone out every year, the thou-
sands of 20th Century Reformation Hour "packets"
that go out every week, and periodic pamphlets
and letters.

Reformation Books Department

Through the Christian Beacon Press's
Reformation Books Department a number of
books and pamphlets have been printed.

In November, 1958, this department
opened a local bookstore variously known as
"20th Century Reformation Center, " "Refor-
mation Books and Bibles," or "Christian
Beacon Book Store," located at 801 Haddon
Ave., Collingswood, N. J. It is a distributing
center for Christian books of all types, for
all ages; for 20th Century Overcomers quar-
terlies; and for Christian audio and visual
aids, records, helps, gifts, and games.

The Rev. A. R. Paashaus became the man-
ager of this book center in 1963. Mr. Paashaus
has been a pastor and active in the Bible
Presbyterian Church and the Twentieth Cen-
tury Reformation movement since 1958 when
he received his B.D. degree from Faith Theo-
logical Seminary. He is the author of two
monographs — Question: Is It Apostasy?
(1957), and The Scriptural Doctrine of In-
fant Baptism Considered in the Light of Ob-
jections (1956).

146

The American Council of Christian Churches
was organized in New York City, in September,
1941, and raised a standard which represented
Bible-believing Christians and the historic Chris-
tian faith. Since 1941 it has grown from the two
founding denominations — the Bible Presbyterian
Church and the Bible Protestant Church — to 15
Protestant denominations holding forth the Word
of Life and contending earnestly for the faith.

Prior to 1941, the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America claimed to speak to
the nation for all Protestantism. However, its de-
parture from the historic Christian faith, the
vague and meaningless use it made of its only
creedal claim, "the divinity of Christ," and the
prominent place of leadership it gave to men who
attacked the most precious doctrines of the Bible
did not allow it to speak for Bible-believing Chris-
tians.

In 1950, the Federal Council and seven other
interdenominational agencies merged to form the
body now known as the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the United States of Amer-
ica. The National Council continues the work of
the Federal Council and now claims to speak for
forty million church members in America. This
voice speaks in behalf of a "new social order" ded-
icated to bringing in the Kingdom of God — a
socialist gospel. Many of the leaders deny the in-
fallibility of the Word of God and join in worship
with pagan religions. The Council advocates paci-
fism, peaceful coexistence, socialism, and the ex-
change of Communist clergy in the pulpits of
America.

The American Council of Christian Churches
is completely disassociated from the National
Council and is the only uncompromising voice
representing and speaking for Bible-believing
christians.

The constitution of the American Council par-
allels that of the National Council so that the con-
trast of doctrine and national goals between the
two councils of churches becomes the more evi-
dent, and the issues between faith and unbelief,
and a free economy and socialism may be clearly
seen.

The meetings of the American Council of
Christian Churches are held on a nation-wide
basis in the spring and in the fall of each year in
strategic cities through the country. The same is
true of the regional ACCC groups and local chap-
ters. Membership is on the basis of churches,

though individuals may affihate themselves as
nonvoting members.

Bible Presbyterians are urged to become in-
formed concerning the activities of the American
Council.

Radio and Audio-Film Commission of the American
Council of Christian Churches

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in
a state of civilization," v^Tote Jefferson, "it expects
what never was and never will be."

The Radio and Audio-Film Commission of the
American Council of Christian Churches is todav
playing an important role in America's fight
against the Communist enemy and against the
vested interests, building up in king-sized propor-
tions, alien to the concept of liberty, law, and
Biblical Christianity. By strengthening a man's
faith in the Christ of the Scriptures, by deepening
his spiritual values, by encouraging him to be a
good citizen, by helping him to become informed
on the great moral and spiritual issues of the day,
something he cannot get from a controlled press,
members of the Bible Presbyterian Church, affili-
ated with the ACCC, are strengthening America
in its struggle to remain a free nation under God.

In this day, in this hour, radio and television
on a local and national level offer one of the great-
est opportunities to uphold the Bible, inform men,
and defend liberty and freedom in the land.

Few are fully informed concerning the extent
of the work done by the ACCC's Radio and Audio-
Film Commission. Week after week, fifty-two
weeks a year, radio and television programs are
carrying the name and message of the ACCC to
the people of America. Through these programs,
many leaders of the Twentieth Century Reforma-
tion movement are heard throughout the land on
local and national broadcasts and telecasts.

"The Living Faith Series" is accepted by key
radio stations across the country with about 45
stations currently carrying this outstanding series
each week. "Living Faith' has become the first
contact that thousands of people have ever had
with the ACCC. They hear God's message de-
clared and they are called to obedience and faith
in Jesus Christ, the risen Saviour and Lord, and
to His Word, the holy Scriptures.

"Biblical Faith Promises Freedom," an ACCC
production for NBC-TV, was aired coast to coast
on July 31, 1966. Participants included Dr. J.
Philip Clark as speaker, Dr. John E. MilDieim as

reader, and the Baptist Bible Seminary Choir,
Johnson City, N. Y., under the direction of Mr.
Donald Ellsworth.

The producer for NBC-TV has already made
plans for a September conference with the Com-
mission for next year's program theme.

Other programs and telecasts must be planned,
prepared, and produced for release on the sus-
taining time made available to the Commission
representing "a Council of Churches. "

Recently the Radio and Audio-Film Commis-
sion moved to New York City to offices adjacent
to those of ACCC's headquarters at 15 Park Row.
This move puts the Commission in the same city
with all the major radio and TV networks, and
will greatly help in the planning and expanding
of radio and TV programs for the future. It will
also consolidate efforts with the New York office
as to equipment and man-power.

Members of the Commission are: Dr. John E.
Millheim, interim executive director; Dr. Donald
A. Waite, chairman; Dr. J. Philip Clark, secretary
and treasurer; Dr. William W. Breckbill, Dr. Ray-
mond F. Hamilton, Rev. Edgar K. Koons, and Dr.
Donald McKnight.

The Bible Presbyterian Synod endorses the
work of this Commission and requests prayer that
thousands may come to saving faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ through the programs, and that thou-
sands may undergird the Radio and Audio-Film
Commission of the ACCC vidth their prayers and
gifts.

Laymen's Commission of the American Council of
Christian Churches

The American Council of Christian Churches
at its 1963 Convention in Indianapolis took formal
steps to establish a Laymen's Commission, de-
signed to reach the man in the pew with the great
issues of the day.

In the providence of God, the late Mr. Verne
P. Kaub, founder and president of the American
Council of Christian Laymen, a conservative, non-
profit corporation, requested the ACCC to take
over and continue the great work of the ACCL.
Since 1949, the ACCL had functioned for the pur-
pose of fostering the basic principles of Christian
Americanism and had taken a forthright approach
in opposition to the inroads upon American liberty
being made by Communism, hberalism, and apos-
tasy in the churches. The ACCL was completely
dissolved as a corporate society and its work and

147

testimony turned over as a gift to the Laymen's
Commission of the ACCC which will continue
and advance this work for the cause of Christ and
for the preservation of liberty in America.

The purposes of the Laymen's Commission
have been enumerated as follows:

1. To encourage and give assistance to
Bible-believing pastors.

2. To point laymen to Christ.

3. To take active part in the formation of
fundamental Bible-believing churches.

4. To be a distribution point for ACCC
literature.

5. To encourage the attendance and par-
ticipation of laymen in the ACCC meetings.

6. To take active steps to expose Commu-
nism, whether in government, schools,
churches, or service agencies.

7. To take active steps to expose apostasy
and unbelief and combat their growth in
churches, schools, and the thought pattern of
Americans.

8. To take active steps to expose socialism
and prevent its inroads into the moral fiber
of the American people.

9. To counteract the influence of progres-
sive education.

10. To expose and combat the theories of
evolution, atheism, and other isms alien to
fundamental Christianity.

11. To make every effort to return prayer
and Bible reading to the public schools.

12. To take active steps to preserve the
heritage of our founding fathers.

13. To defend the historic Christian faith.
The Commission prepares and publishes its

own literature, and distributes other literature
which will keep laymen and pastors informed as
to the issues of the day. The pamphlet, "How Red
is the National Council of Churches?" has been
revised and is available from the head office. Dr.
Donald A. Waite, an associate of Dr. Carl Mcln-
tire for the 20th Century Reformation Hour
broadcast, has recently revised Mr. Kaub's book,
Cominunist-Socialist Propaganda in American
Schools, a documentation of books, organizations,
individuals, and occasions of this destructive prop-
aganda in the progressive system of American
education.

For this and other literature write to Mr.
George F. Kurtz, chairman. Laymen's Commission
of the ACCC, Box 8775, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15221.
Other members of the Commission are: Mr. Max
McCall, Indiana, Pa.; Mr. E. E. Bradley, N. Holly-

148

wood, Calif.; Mr. Lorin Oxley, Tipton, Iowa; and
Dr. George Hess, Bunker Hill, 111.

International Council of Christian Churches

Bible Presbyterians have taken their stand in
refusing to have fellowship with that which com-
promises and which represents unbelief. The Bible
Presbyterian Church is a leader in the historic
Twentieth Century RefoiTnation movement. It is,
therefore, distinct from other Presbyterian groups
which have refused to carry on a vigorous, mili-
tant battle in behalf of the historic Christian faith
and the preservation of a Presbyterian ministry
and church in America which will be in keeping
with the Presbyterian heritage.

The Bible Presbyterian Church has extended
its hand of fellowship and co-operation to the
other separatist groups arising in the country in
this twentieth century, and took part in the forma-
tion of the American Council of Christian
Churches in 1941 and of the International Council
of Christian Churches in 1948.

The International Council of Christian
Churches was established August 11-19, 1948 in
the English Reformed Church, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands. It is a council of churches from all
over the world, established for "fellowship and
co-operation on the part of Bible-believing
Churches for the porclamation and defense of the
Gospel, for the maintenance of a testimony pure,
steadfast and world-wide to those great facts and
revealed truths of historic Christianity and espe-
cially to the great doctrines of the Protestant
Reformation, for the accomplishment of tasks
which can better be done in co-operation than
separately, and to facilitate the discharge of the
obligations which inhere in the Commission of
Christ to His Church and to make known the Gos-
pel of Christ to every kindred and tongue and
tribe and nation. "

As of August, 1965, there are 111 Bible-believ-
ing Protestant denominations in the Council in a
fellowship representing true Christian unity. Mem-
bership in the Council is of three types: constitu-
ent membership is composed of denominations or
entire groups of churches; consultative member-
ship is composed of local churches which have the
right of discussion in plenary congresses but not
the right to vote; and associated bodies such as
Bible leagues, missionary societies, educational in-
stitutions, and the like.

The ICCC serves its constituency by striving
to keep mission doors open, by representation to
governments, by exposing and combating unbe-
lief. Communism, and all forces opposed to the
historic Christian faith, and bringing together
evangelicals for a common fellowship in the de-
fense and proclamation of the faith.

Six plenary congresses have been held: Am-
sterdam, 1948; Geneva, 1950; Philadelphia, 1954;
Rio de Janeiro, 1958; Amsterdam, 1962; Geneva,
1965. The Seventh Plenary Congress is set for
August 15-25, 1968, in Cape May, N. J. Regional
and national council meetings are held yearly
between the plenary congresses.

The ICCC is a missionary work of faith, sup-
ported entirely by voluntary gifts of the Lord's
people and denominations composing it. The
Council is exempt from federal income tax in the
U.S.A., and contributions to the Council are de-
ductible by the donor. The Bible Presbyterian
Synod commends the Council to individuals,
churches, and church organizations as a mission-
ary investment and an effective means of main-
taining liberty to preach the Gospel.

OFFICERS OF THE COUNCIL

President
Dr. Carl Mclntire, Collingswood, N.J.

First Vice-president
Dr. Robert T. Ketcham, Des Plaines, Illinois

Second Vice-president
Dr. H. C. Slade, Toronto, Canada

Vice-presidents

Dr. Albert B. Dodd, Taiwan, Republic of China

Mr. E. C. Eicher, Beirut, Lebanon

Dr. Israel Gueiros, Recife, Brazil

Rev. W. H. Guiton, Courbevoie, Seine, France

Dr. David Hedegard, Uppsala, Sweden

Rev. Jose Latorilla, Bacolod City, The Philippines

Dr. Dwight Malsbary, Seoul, Korea

Bishop K. N. Oommen, Tiruvalla, Kerala, India

Rev. Antonio Ormeo, Manila, The Philippines

Dr. A. Rakotobe, Ambohimanore, Madagascar

Rev. Marion Reynolds, Jr., Pasadena, California

Rev. Baudilio Saavedra, Chilian, Chile

Dr. Timothy Tow, Singapore

Prof. J. J. van der Schuit, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Treasurer and North American Secretary
Dr. Raymond F. Hamilton, Collingswood, N.J.

Associate General Secretary
Mr. A. Warnaar, Jr., Amsterdam

Secretary tor Europe
Rev. J. C. Maris, Amsterdam

For Further Information, Write

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES

Singel 386, Amsterdam C, The Netherlands or
756 Haddon Ave., Collingswood, N.J. 08108

International Christian Youth

This international organization was founded
at Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in August, 1962,
as a result of the efforts of the Youth Commission
of the International Council of Christian Churches.
Its theme at this First World Assembly was "Wit-
ness" — and that is what ICY has done in the
years since 1962.

The witness of ICY is a witness to Jesus Christ.
It is different from every other youth organization
in that its witness is to the whole truth of God —
for Jesus Christ is Himself Truth.

By 1965 there had been organized affiliated
organizations in The Netherlands, the United
States, England, Canada, Malaysia, Korea, Free
China, Chile, Nigeria, and the Cameroons. Since
1965 groups have been formed in India, Japan,
New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa, Ireland, and
Brazil.

Carl Thomas Mclntire,
International Christian Youth

International Christian Youth-USA was initi-
ated in May, 1961. One of its folders states: "It
prays and works for a Twentieth Century Refor-
mation, a spiritual reformation which transforms
both churches and individuals, and in turn, the
nation. ICY strives to extend historic Protestant-
ism while seeking to oppose error wherever it

149

may occur. ICY works to maintain individual free-
dom within an orderly and just society in which
the churches and every Christian may be free to
worship and serve the true and living God. ICY
seeks to apply the truth of God to everv sphere
of life, believing that His truth is one."

Young people between 15 and 30 years of age
are eligible for membership in ICY by accepting
its preamble and doctrinal statement. The doc-
trinal statement is the same as that of the Inter-
national Council of Christian Churches. The na-
tional headquarters office is at 756 Haddon Ave.,
Collingswood, N. J. 08108, from which informa-
tion may be obtained and to which application for
membership may be sent.

ICY sends out a periodic news letter, folders,
and leaflets. Its latest publication is New Refor-
mation, a magazine which will appear 11 times a
year. Subscription price is $3.50 for a year, 50
cents per single issue. Subscriptions for Bible
Presbyterian young people are a must.

Carl Thomas Mclntire is chairman of the in-
ternational organization and also of ICY-USA. A
number of other Bible Presbyterian young people
hold places of leadership in the organization, in-
cluding the Rev. Ara Euredjian, missionary to
Africa.

International Christian Relief

International Christian Relief is the relief arm
of the International Council of Christian Churches
in co-operation with the American Council of
Christian Churches. It has been raised up to help
meet the need of Christians remaining true to the
Word of God.

INTERNATIONAL
CHRISTIAN
RELIEF j|

ICR is an international organization and has
sent supplies to every continent in the world. In

1964, relief materials were sent to 14 nations. In

1965, shipments went to 18 nations of the world:
Iraq, Korea, Nigeria, Philippine Islands, Hong
Kong, Malaysia, Chile, Lebanon, French West
Indies, Jamaica, Guatemala, Surinam, Canada,
Formosa, Jordan, Alaska, Brazil, and British
Guiana.

Rev. James T. Shaw,
International Christian Relief

ICR is a Christian organization, receiving ma-
terials from Christians and distributing materials
to Christians in obedience to the plain command of
the Word of God, the Bible. "For thou hast been
a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in
his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow
from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones
is as a storm against the wall" (Isa. 25:4). Chris-
tians have a responsibility to take care of the
physical needs of those less fortunate, "especially
unto them who are of the household of faith."
This is the primary responsibility of ICR, to ex-
pedite the furthering of the Biblical commands in
the area of relief from Christians and to Christians
in need. ICR is working and will continue to work
only with those agencies and councils true to the
Word of God in separating from the apostasy.
Many Christians in other lands have suffered
much due to the uncompromising stand they have
taken in regard to the apostasy. ICR is helping
Christians who have paid a great price in the
service of Christ and the cause of freedom.

7CR is a relief program. ICR is presently car-
ing for orphanages, hospitals, clinics, and lepro-
sariums, together with shipping relief materials in
times of special distress all over the world. Food
parcels have been sent to Britain; over $17,000
was sent to The Netherlands at the time of the
flood in 1953; and in the Chile earthquake of 1960
tons of clothing were collected and shipped to

150

that needy land. These ICCC projects up to 1961
were undertaken by the Council as separate un-
dertakings with no organized program of sending
relief in a systematic way to the suffering around
the world.

In May, 1961, the Rev. James Shaw was ap-
pointed to be the executive secretary of Interna-
tional Christian Relief and under his direction
ICR has been organized, finances raised, and tons
of food, clothing, and medical supplies have been
constantly shipped around the world.

Each year has witnessed growth, and 1965 was
the greatest year in the history of the program.
From the ICCC's plenary congress in Amsterdam,
in 1962, to the plenary congress in Geneva, in
1965, a total of 320,557 pounds of relief material
with an estimated value of $320,557 were shipped
around the world. Medical supplies alone were
valued at $35,000. Including gifts of money to de-
fray shipping costs, a total of $439,251.42 was re-
ceived through ICR.

In this same three-year period, Mr. Shaw made
seven trips out of the U.S.A. on behalf of ICR.
Two of these trips were world tours which gave
much firsthand information as to the suffering
of Christians in other countries as well as the re-
lief obtained through the supplies sent.

The ICR committee in England sent relief to
other countries. The ICCC office in The Nether-
lands was also instrumental in providing reUef for
other nations, including Chile and Korea. Chris-
tian brethren from New Zealand and Australia
have unselfishly made gifts of money for the pur-
chase of food and other commodities to be sent
to brethren in need.

Plans are being made to extend the services of
ICR through radio broadcasts where Christians in
America are awakened to the needs of Christians
the world over. All Christians everywhere are in-
vited to share in this ministry.

International Association of Reformed and
Presbyterian Churches

The International Association of Reformed and
Presbyterian Churches was organized at the Con-
certgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August
20, 1962, by a gathering of delegates and visiting
clergymen attending the Fifth Plenary Congress
of the International Council of Christian Churches.

A provisional constitution was accepted and
officers elected. These included: Dr. A. B. Dodd

of Taiwan, moderator, and Dr. J. C. Maris of the
Netherlands, secretary. The Association offers con-
stituent member churches a united "testimony" for
the Reformed Faith, and holds as its foundation
the "plenary, verbally inspired and infallible Scrip-
tures of the Old and New Testaments."

The Association passed the following resolu-
tion:

Whereas, the Reformed and Presbyterian
Churches have always been to the forefront
in defense of our Protestant faith;

Whereas, the historic creeds of these
churches are plain in their repudiation of the
dogmas of Romanism and the authority of
the Pope;

Whereas, Dr. Craig, when moderator of
the Church of Scotland, visited in an official
capacity the Pope of Rome;

Therefore, we, the members of the Inter-
national Presbyterian and Reformed Associa-
tion, holding fast to our glorious Reformation
heritage, place on record our abhorrence of
this act of betrayal and call on the Bible-be-
lieving Presbyterians throughout the world to
unite with us in defense of the Christian Faith
and to separate themselves from those Pres-
byterian bodies who in the name of a false
charity are promoting union with papal
Rome.

The purpose of the organization, as stated in
the constitution, reads:

The purpose of this testimony to the Re-
formed Faith is the promotion of the glory of
God and fellowship in the advancement of the
system of doctrine which we believe the
Scriptures present. We also intend to call in-
dividuals and churches out of the apostate
World Presbyterian Alliance. No Presbyterian
or Reformed Church which is in association
with either the World Council of Churches
or the World Presbyterian Alliance shall be
admitted to membership.

In a preliminary statement to the constitution,
the Association also stated:

We are of the unanimous opinion that the
organization knowTi as the World Presby-
terian Alliance does not represent the historic
Presbyterian testimony but has instead de-
parted from the creeds. This organization has
now become an instrument of a false ecumen-
icity and is being used by forces led by pres-
ent-day liberalism and neo-orthodoxy to the

151

end that Presbyterian churches are being led
away from their confessions. Further, this
Association is of the conviction that a chal-
lenge must be made in our Reformed and
Presbyterian world to the World Presbyterian
Alliance and the World Council of Churches.
Both of these ecumenical bodies rest upon the
same principles of inclusivism and false ecu-
menism.
Future meetings of the new group are planned
"at or near the time and place" of plenary con-
gresses of the International Council of Christian
Churches.

Albert B. Dodd

The Rev. Albert Baldwin Dodd, D.D., mission-
ary to China and Taiwan for more than 60 years,
was chosen first moderator of the new Association
of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches, a posi-
tion he is well qualified to fill due to his education
and scholarship, experience in international gath-
erings, and spiritual ministry.

Dr. Albert B. Dodd

Dr. Dodd graduated from Westminster Col-
lege, Fulton, Mo., in 1898 at the head of his class,
and was presented with a year's fellowship by the
Missouri State University Graduate School. In
1902, he was graduated from Princeton Theolog-
ical Seminary and was awarded the William
Henry Green Old Testament Fellowship. Dr. Dodd
also completed half the residence work required
for the Ph.D. degree at New York University. His
Alma Mater honored him with the title of Doctor
of Divinity in 1924.

Dr. Dodd first went to China in 1903 and for
most of his life has been a member of the Presby-
terian Church in China which has honored him

152

with high positions. He served as moderator of the
Tsinafu Presbytery, 1910; for three years he was
moderator of the North China Synod of the same
church. He was one of the two founders of the
North China Theological Seminary in Shantung
Province, China, now relocated as the Reformed
Theological Seminary in Taiwan.

In 1929, the General Assembly of the Chinese
Church appointed him to be their fraternal dele-
gate to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A., and later the same year to
serve on a committee to organize the League of
Christian Churches in China.

The League, or Council, was organized with
16 member denominations later in November of
that year in Tenghsien, Shantung, at the North
China Theological Seminary. Dr. Dodd served as
the Council's corresponding secretary as long as
he was on the Chinese mainland. The Chinese
Council was organized along the same lines fol-
lowed in the formation of the American Council
of Christian Churches and later by the Interna-
tional Council of Christian Churches. The Chinese
and American Councils co-operated to form the
ICCC in 1948 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Dr. Dodd has written a number of theological
textbooks and commentaries in Chinese and a
number of articles in the Chinese Bible Encyclo-
pedia based on Orr and Davis. His works in Chi-
nese include Lessons in Greek and Hebrew; Com-
mentaries on Galatians, First Peter, and the
Psalms; a pamphlet on Prayer; and a revision of
the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. In 1929, he
delivered a course of lectures on, "Primary Requi-
sites for the Speedy Evangelization of China," at
Princeton Theological Seminary, which were pub-
lished in The Princeton Reformed Review and the
Evangelical Quarterlij in England the following
year. He has contributed articles to the Christian
Beacon, Biblical Missions, and other religious
periodicals.

Dr. Dodd has been a vice-president of the In-
ternational Council of Christian Churches since
1954, and has been a member of the executive
committee of the Far Eastern Council of Chris-
tian Churches since its organization in Manila in
1951. He has attended all of the six Far Eastern
Council assemblies and four of the six ICCC
plenary congresses.

Dr. Dodd served as moderator of the Taiwan
Presbytery of the China Presbyterian Church of
Christ from 1952 to 1962. In 1962, he was elected
moderator of the Twenty-Sixth General Synod of
the Bible Presbyterian Church.

Christian Admiral Bible Conference
and Freedom Center

The Christian Admiral Bible Conference and
Freedom Center is a part of the Twentieth Cen-
tury Reformation movement. It was founded in
1963 to meet the great need of bringing Christians
and patriots together that they might be informed,
inspired, comforted, and challenged to face the
issues that confront free men today — the Com-
munist conspiracy and its drive upon the West,
creeping sociahsm as promoted by a false King-
dom-of-God ideology, the apostasy from belief in
the infallible Scriptures which abounds on every
hand both inside and outside of the churches, and
the need of every man to trust the Lord Jesus
Christ as his Saviour and become a child of God.

Christian Admiral

Located at the tip of New Jersey's beautiful
coastline in Cape May, N. J., the Christian Ad-
miral is an eight-story, fireproof hotel building
with elegant decorations and 333 bedrooms. The
beautiful new Robert Lee Gardner Memorial
Auditorium seats 2,000 persons.

Annual summer conferences for God and coun-
try are held each year at which time nationally
known speakers give stirring, thrilling, patriotic,
and Biblical messages. During the five-month con-
ference schedule, meetings are held twice daily;
a Bible message is featured in the morning hour
and the evening popular messages deal with the
issues faced by the Christian world at large. The
Sunday afternoon music concert, under the direc-
tion of Fague Springmann, Conference music
director, is one of the most popular meetings of
the week.

The Christian Admiral offers recreational facil-
ities including a swimming pool, bowling alleys,
and bicycles at no cost to guests. Accommodations
and food are the finest. Cape May is the oldest
seashore resort in America and has the largest
accumulation of Victorian architecture of any
community in the U.S.A.

Since its beginning, the Christian Admiral has
been the meeting place of the Bible Presbyterian
Synod and Synodical, and is the present home of
Shelton College.

The Seventh Plenary Congress of the Inter-
national Council of Christian Churches will be
held here August 15-22, 1968.

The Christian Admiral is dedicated to the
glory of God and to the faith once delivered to
the saints.

All are welcome. All may find rest and inspira-
tion in this beautiful place on the shores of the
Atlantic Ocean.

The Christian Admiral is a gift of God to His
people in a time of need.

153

MEMORIALS - BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS

1st General Synod:

Rev. R. Jackson Vaughn, Chicago Presbytery

2nd General Synod:

Rev. Colin C. Weir, Philadelphia Area Presbytery

3rd General Synod:

Rev. Fred A. Geisenheiner, Chicago Presbytery

5th General Synod:

Rev. Andrew J. Koonce, Great Lakes Presbytery
Rev. Renjamin Mickle Rrown, Chicago Presbvtery
Rev. Alford Kelly, Philadelphia Area Presbytery
Rev. E. F. Trefy, South California Presbytery

7th General Synod:

Chaplain Arthur J. Dieffenbacher

13th General Synod:

Rev. Frank E. Heydenburk, California Presbytery

14th General Synod:

A memorial was passed for a great friend of the Bible Presbyterian
Church, the Hon. Arie Kok, general secretary of the International
Council of Christian Churches

15th General Synod:

Rev. J. B. Foster, Great Lakes Presbytery

16th General Synod:

Rev. Lewis H. Jamieson, California Presbytery
Elder Roland K. Armes, Philadelphia Area Presbytery

17th General Synod:

Elder J. G. Crane, Sr., Philadelphia Area Presbytery

Elder Otis G. Davenport, Great Plains Presbytery

Rev. T. A. Lambie, M.D., Missionary to the Holy Land

18th General Synod:

Rev. Louis Berks, Upper Midwest Presbytery

Rev. M. A. Pearson, Missionary to the Indians (Cherokee)

154

20th General Synod:

Hon. Weidner Titzck, Elder, New Jersey Presbytery
Rev. Clarence Laman, New Jersey Presbytery

21st General Synod:

Rev. Roy Talmadge Brumbaugh, D.D., Pacific Northwest Presbytery

Rev. Frank Beatty, D.D., Pacific Northwest Presbytery

Elder Clark, Philadelphia Area Presbytery

Elder Clyde Blazer, New Jersey Presbytery

Elder Ora Jordan, New Jersey Presbytery

Elder Frank Seider, New Jersey Presbytery

22nd General Synod:

Rev. J. F. Minor Simpson, Philadelphia Area Presbytery
Rev. Samuel Arendt, Philadelphia Area Presbytery
Rev. Wayne Monroe, Carolina Presbytery

23rd General Synod:

Dr. Ralph W. Duncan, Elder, Philadelphia Area Presbytery

Elder Jansen H. Pollock

Elder Frank E. LeGates, Great Lakes Presbytery

24th General Sijnod:

Elder Frank H. Simpson, Great Lakes Presbytery
Elder Harry E. Sutton, Great Lakes Presbytery
Elder John N. Fiol, Philadelphia Area Presbytery
Elder George Meek, Philadelphia Area Presbytery
Elder James E. Rennet, New Jersey Presbytery
Elder H. Willis Reed, California Presbytery
Elder John R. Stewart, Great Plains Presbytery
Rev. Fred Stroud, Kentucky-Tennessee Presbytery

26th General Synod:

Rev. Clyde J. Kennedy, D.D., New Jersey Presbytery

27th General Synod:

Rev. Arthur G. Slaght, D.D., Philadelphia Area Presbytery
Rev. Charles Sullivan Calkins, Upper Great Lakes Presbytery

28th General Synod:

Dr. M. Stanley Black, one of the founders of the Bible Presbyterian

Church in 1938, and who remained with the Collingswood Synod in

1956

Rev. Charles A. Burkholder, Rocky Mountain Presbytery

Elder Garfield Watson, New Jersey Presbytery

29th General Synod:

Rev. Cornelius M. Eelman, New Jersey Presbytery

155

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Story of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.,
by Benjamin J. Lake, The Westminster Press', 1956

The Broadening Church, A study of theological issues
in the Presbyterian Church since 1869, by Lefforts A.
Loetscher, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1964

What Is Presbyterian Law As Defined by the Church
Courts? by the Rev. J. Aspinwall Hodge, D.D., 7th Edi-
tion, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-
School Work, 1882

The Constitution of the Bible Presbyterian Church

The Creed of Presbyterians, by Egbert Watson Smith,
The Westminster Press, 1901 and 1902, published by
the Presbyterian Constitutional Covenant Union

The Presbyterian Digest of 1907, compiled for the
years 1706-1897, by the Rev. William E. Moore, D.D.,
LL.D., with the co-operation of a committee of the Gen-
eral Assembly, Presbyterian Board of Publication and
Sabbath-School Work, 1907

A History of the Ecumenical Movement, 1517-1948,
by Ruth Rouse and Stephen Charles Neill, The West-
minster Press, 1954, published on behalf of the Ecumen-
ical Institute, Chateau de Bossey

Re-Thinking Missions Examined, by Robert E. Speer,
Fleming H. Revell Co., New York City, 1933

Modernism and the Board of Foreign Missions of the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., by J. Gresham
Machen, 1933

Dr. Robert E. Speer, the Board of Foreign Missions of
the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., and Modernism
by Carl Mclntire, 1935

The True Facts in the Machen and Mclntire Cases,
by the Rev. E. Lansing Bennett, 1936

/. Gresham Machen, a Biographical Memoir, by Ned
B. Stonehouse, published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publish-
ing Co., 1954

Christian Beacon

Christianity Today, Volumes I-IV

The Presbyterian Guardian, Volumes I and II, Oc-
tober, 1935 - September, 1936

The Independent Board Bulletin

Other church publications and official documents

156

Navajo Bible School and Mission, Inc.

The Navajo Bible School and Mission was organ-
ized in 1937 to meet the imperative need of the Navajo
Indians. The Navajos, a tribe of 50,000, settled mostly
in Arizona and New Mexico, live in hogans made of
mud and logs. At the time the Mission was established
only 40 per cent of the Navajo children were in school
and not 20 per cent of the people could speak English

Rev. and Mrs.
Howard A. Clark,
the founders

with any degree of accuracy. The great need of this
people, held by superstition and in fear of evil spirits,
is for the Gospel of Christ to be preached by trained
Navajo workers in the Navajo language.

The Mission was founded and organized under the
leadership of the late Rev. Howard A. Clark and his
wife, who resigned from the Fort Defiance, Arizona,
Mission of the Board of Home Missions of the Presby-
terian Church in the U.S.A. because of its modernism.

The first

staff of

the Mission

Mrs. Clark still serves on the executive committee of
the Board of Trustees of the Mission.

The Board is incorporated under the laws of the
State of New Mexico and its members come from dif-
ferent parts of the country and from a number of
denominations. They are pastors, missionaries, and
church leaders who are true to the fundamentals of
the faith and fired with missionary zeal.

Bible Presbyterian minister, the Rev. William M.
Irving, is one of the missionaries and president of the
Mission.

Fifty acres of land have been purchased seven
miles south of Fort Defiance, Arizona, and within two
miles of the Government Agency at Window Rock,
Arizona, on the highway leading to Gallup, New Mex-
ico. Upon this site, one-half mile from the Arizona-
New Mexico State line, modest buildings have been
erected and others are contemplated. Outstations are
maintained at Crystal, Manuelito, and Pine Springs.

Within recent months, the Navajo Bible School and
Mission was granted a construction permit by the
Federal Communications Commission to build a day-
time AM station in Window Rock to "bring the Gospel
of salvation" to the Navajo Indians in the area.
Objectives and activities of the Mission are;

1. A Bible school for the training of Navajo pas-
tors, evangelists, elders, and personal workers.

2. An intensive camp work by missionaries and
Navajo workers.

3. A group of outstations convenient to Govern-
ment schools and community centers.

4. The establishing of indigenous churches which
shall be self-governing, self-supporting, and self-prop-
agating.

5. Navajo Bible Conferences and Evangelistic
Camp Meetings.

Doctrinally, the Mission holds to the fundamentals
of the faith and teaches the premillennial coming of
the Lord to reign over the earth. It holds generally to
the position of the American Council of Christian
Churches, in that it is the duty of a mission not only
to preach and believe the Gospel but to contend
earnestly for the faith. The Board of Directors and
staff members must adhere to this position.

157

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